Authorities want this project to help reduce fatalities among police officers, but activists warned that it could lead to even more cases of racial violence.

After lengthy debate and a split decision, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has given the go-ahead for a controversial measure to allow city police to use “lethal” robots in emergency situations . That is, in which there is the possibility of loss of life of citizens or police officers.

Although the police department already uses a dozen of these remote-controlled machines in security situations that could put people at risk, the big change in this initiative is that the robots could carry explosive charges to “incapacitate or disorient” suspects in extreme situations, such as school shootings or terrorist acts .

The use of these robots as assistance to police operations will be the “last resort” and they can only be activated with the express authorization of one of two senior officers of the San Francisco Police Department.

Those who criticize and oppose this new policy say that this approach is “incredibly dangerous” in a context of increasing police abuse and racial violence throughout the United States. In addition, they consider that it is a step forward to the “militarization of the police”.

What kind of deadly force will police robots have?

The abilities of the police robots that the city of San Francisco has include climbing stairs, lifting up to 40 kilos , moving on sidewalks, getting up by itself if they throw it to the ground and now they could carry explosives.

“This type of explosive charge is considered a Type III intermediate strength option. It could cause injury or be fatal. Robots equipped with this would only be used to save or prevent further loss of innocent life,” the Police Department explained in a statement following the decision .

The first time a robot was used to drop explosives in the United States was in 2016 in Dallas, Texas, when police sent one of these machines to take out a hidden sniper who had killed five police officers in an ambush .

Recently, the city of Oakland, neighboring San Francisco, rejected a similar proposal that tried to enable some robots with shotgun cartridges to be able to shoot if necessary.

Between RoboCop and Terminator

Democratic Sen. Dean Preston , who also sits on the San Francisco board of supervisors, is one of the strongest opposing voices to the idea of ​​adding deadly force to robots in San Francisco.

The legislator said it was “a sad moment” to learn the result of the vote where he was one of the three who voted against . He anticipated the implementation of this new plan “will involve disproportionate violence, as always, against African-Americans.”

On the other hand, the professor of the University of Duke, Sultan Meghji, assured that the authorities “are making political decisions of the Terminator franchise ” , in a recent interview with the journalist Jesse Watters of the Fox News chain.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also expressed harsh criticism and agreed on the consequences that this initiative may have, especially for the African-American population.

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