By Bob Walsh
The San Francisco Police Department has received
permission from the Board of Supervisors to deploy robots with lethal
force capabilities under certain limited, rare cases.
Following
a racaus debate the policy was approved by an 8-3 vote. Among other
things one of two specified Department command personnel must approve
any such use.
This action
was made necessary due to AB 481, a law passed in 2021 which mandates
that law enforcement agencies must get approval from their governing
bodies regarding policies on the use of their equipment.
The Oakland PD backed off on a similar request.
None
of the SFPD robots currently in use could easily be set up with a
firearm. Some of them are capable of being set up with breaching
charges.
The first
documented use of a deliberately lethal law enforcement robot in the U.S. was in Dallas in 2016. The Dallas PD deployed a robot with an
explosive charge mounted on it with the intention of killing a shooter
who had killed five Dallas cops.
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