Status: 12/07/2022 4:42 p.m
U-turn in the US city of San Francisco. A few days ago, a committee voted in favor of using robots with explosives against violent criminals – in exceptional cases. The decision has now been overturned due to public pressure.
For the time being, the police forces in the US metropolis of San Francisco are not allowed to use explosives robots to defuse potentially dangerous situations. This approach was approved by the city’s “Board of Supervisors” just last week. But the city’s decision to equip police robots with explosives for security reasons and to be able to use them against violent people had sparked national criticism in the United States.
Some of the members of the panel have now admitted that they did not involve the public sufficiently in the pre-vote debate. The committee now also made a U-turn and conceded the original decision unanimously.
Dean Preston, a member of the committee, had voted against the explosive robots from the start. “We should be working to reduce police use of force rather than giving them new killing devices,” Preston said.
Violence in police operations is the order of the day
Violence in police operations is a common problem in the United States. In 2021, an average of three people were shot dead every day. But US police officers also live dangerously, every five days one of them dies from a gun while on duty.
The number of mass shootings in the US has doubled in the past four years. This is also how the San Francisco City Council justified its original vote for the explosive-laden robots. Situations in which an exchange of fire and, with a high degree of probability, victims appear to be unavoidable should be able to be solved with more security for the police officers.
So far, there has been one killing by a robot in the United States. In 2016, a man shot dead five officers in Dallas, then he was killed while using the police robot. San Francisco police want to be prepared for similar cases.
So far, the police authorities in the USA have used robots primarily to deactivate explosives and to scout out confusing situations. It remains to be seen whether the decision that has now been taken in San Francisco will ultimately be overturned after the public has been involved.