The San Francisco Board of Supervisors have voted unanimously to halt a new policy that would have let police use robots for deadly force.
The vote comes as a U-turn, with supervisors previously approving plans, which in turn led to a backlash fuelled by warnings over the automation of policing.
Since the vote, the use of robots for lethal purposes has been banned, however, the issue was sent to a committee for further discussion. Votes could be cast in the future to decide whether police should be allowed to use robots in such a manner, however it would only be in certain cases.
The vote took place last week, with the police force confirming it would not intend to arm the robots with guns. Instead, the robots would be armed with explosives, and used to incapacitate or disorientate suspects who were deemed to be dangerous or armed, only in situations where lives are at risk.
Following the initial vote, San Francisco became the centre of a debate over technology in policing.
Robot technology for policing is available across the US, it has rarely been used to confront suspects.
Supervisor Dean Preston, who had rejected the plans from before the change in course, told his colleagues on Tuesday that “the public hadn’t been given enough time to voice their concerns about such a pressing issue”.
In a statement, he said: “The people of San Francisco have spoken loud and clear: There is no place for killer police robots in our city. We should be working on ways to decrease the use of force by local law enforcement, not giving them new tools to kill people.”
However, while the vote was unanimous, some officials wanted to allow the use of robots in policing. They argued for robots using deadly force in certain cases, and that nothing substantive had changed to warrant a vote reversal. However, the vote was part of a broader vote, to advance the broader police equipment policy, which passed unanimously.
Police are still allowed to use robots to examine potentially dangerous scenes, so that officers can stay back.
“Having robots that have eyes and ears and can remove bombs, which happens from time to time, is something that we want the police department to do while we continue to have this very controversial discussion,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin.
