San Francisco supervisors vote to allow police to use robots to kill - CNN

CNN  — 

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 Tuesday nighttime to o.k. a arguable policy that would let constabulary to deploy robots susceptible of utilizing lethal unit successful bonzer circumstances, according to aggregate reports.

The Washington Post reports the ballot came aft a heated statement connected a argumentation that would let officers to usage ground-based robots to termination “when hazard of nonaccomplishment of beingness to members of the nationalist oregon officers is imminent and officers cannot subdue the menace aft utilizing alternate unit options oregon de-escalation tactics.”

The Post says the measurement inactive requires a 2nd ballot adjacent week and the mayor’s approval.

“There could beryllium an bonzer condition where, successful a virtually unimaginable emergency, they mightiness privation to deploy lethal unit to render, successful immoderate horrific situation, idiosyncratic from being capable to origin further harm,” Supervisor Aaron Peskin said astatine the committee meeting, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

But Supervisors Dean Preston, Hillary Ronen and Shamann Walton voted against the policy, the Chronicle reported.

“There is superior imaginable for misuse and maltreatment of this military-grade technology, and zero showing of necessity,” Preston said astatine the meeting.

Ultimately, the committee adopted an amendment requiring 1 of 2 high-ranking San Francisco Police Department leaders to authorize immoderate usage of a robot for lethal force, according to the Chronicle.

CNN has reached retired to the Board of Supervisors for a transcript of the meeting minutes.

Police spokesperson Robert Rueca told the Post the section has a fleet of robots and does not program to outfit them with firearms. But helium said explosive charges could beryllium added to the robots to breach fortified structures, oregon the robots could beryllium deployed to “contact, incapacitate, oregon disorient” a unsafe fishy without risking the beingness of an officer.

It has been wide reported that the archetypal known illustration of US instrumentality enforcement utilizing a robot to deploy lethal unit was successful 2016, erstwhile Dallas constabulary killed an equipped fishy accused of fatally shooting 5 constabulary officers by detonating an explosive instrumentality placed connected a weaponry squad robot sent to wherever the fishy had taken shelter.