San Francisco terminates explosive killer cop bots
- Reference: 1670443209
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/12/07/san_francisco_terminates_killer_robots/
- Source link:
On Tuesday, the city's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to explicitly prohibit lethal force by police robots following a massive public backlash and worldwide media attention. Under a previously approved policy, SF police robots under human control could have used explosives to kill suspects. The droids were not allowed to use guns.
The board [1]approved this approach in an 8-3 vote on November 29. It would have allowed the cops to use detonating robots "as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available to SFPD."
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However, the supervisors have now undone that decision, and sent the deadly robot provision back to the city's Rules Committee for further debate. This panel may decide to revisit the policy. If the committee does not advance the proposal, and lets the matter drop, a total ban on lethal police robots will stand. If the committee does revise the rules, the board will get to vote on it again. So far, there seems little appetite to allow the cops to use bots that explode or shoot.
We just stopped the use of killer robots robots in SF. Complete reversal from last week. Common sense prevailed. — Hillary Ronen (@HillaryRonen) [3]December 6, 2022
"This fight isn't over, but we are grateful that the board explicitly banned police robots with deadly force," San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston said in a statement following Tuesday's decision to send the policy back to the drawing board.
Preston was one of the three elected officials who voted against the killer robot policy late last month. "I am calling on my colleagues to take heed of the powerful backlash and make sure this harmful policy is never approved — not today, not tomorrow, not ever," he added.
This is about neutralizing a threat by equipping a robot with a lethal option as a last case scenario
In a statement to The Register , SFPD Chief William Scott argued a situation so dire may arise at some point to warrant the use of lethal 'droids. "Part of our job is to prepare for the unthinkable – and to not prepare for the unthinkable would be irresponsible," he said. "We cannot be limited in how we are able to respond if and when the worst-case scenario incident occurs in San Francisco.
"This story has been become distorted and the narrative being driven is a distraction from the real issue, which is having the tools necessary to prevent loss of innocent lives in an active shooter or mass casualty incident.
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"We want to use our robots to save lives – not take them. To be sure, this is about neutralizing a threat by equipping a robot with a lethal option as a last case scenario, not sending an officer in on a suicide mission."
The police department owns 17 robots, all of which it purchased before January 2022. Since then, SFPD has "not faced a situation where the delivery of lethal force was necessary," Officer Robert Rueca said in an earlier email to The Register .
Welcome to the future
This type of situation did happen in Dallas, where a July 2016 mass-shooting incident left five police officers dead and another 11 people wounded. After cornering the suspect in a local building, police [6]strapped an explosive charge onto a bomb-disposal robot, which detonated near the suspect, killing him.
[7]San Francisco lawmakers approve lethal robots – but they can't carry guns
[8]If someone weaponizes our robots, we'll be really, really sad, says Boston Dynamics
[9]Bomb-disposal robot violently disposes of Dallas cop-killer gunman
[10]San Francisco cops can use private cameras to live-monitor 'significant events'
San Francisco's earlier stance on killer robots sparked [11]protests outside of City Hall on Monday. Also on Monday, more than 40 community organizations including the ACLU and EFF signed a letter urging the supervisors to scrap the policy.
After the board changed course on Tuesday, EFF policy analyst Matthew Guariglia said the netizen rights' group was "very pleased" with the killer robot ban. "This is a big step forward for a style of common sense governance where we know that security theater does not actually make San Francisco safer," he told The Register .
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"Next, we will have to see when and if the rules committee takes up the question of police robots," he added. "It is my most sincere hope that after careful consideration and a period of public comment, the rules committee decides that it should not overturn the current policy and that deadly force by police robots should remain banned in San Francisco." ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/30/san_francisco_killer_robots_ordinance/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y5EbDgs1ILMV-xIhn1XaIQAAABE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://twitter.com/HillaryRonen/status/1600261445446295553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y5EbDgs1ILMV-xIhn1XaIQAAABE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y5EbDgs1ILMV-xIhn1XaIQAAABE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2016/07/08/police_robot_kills_dallas_shooting_suspect/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/30/san_francisco_killer_robots_ordinance/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/06/boston_dynamics_weapons/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2016/07/08/police_robot_kills_dallas_shooting_suspect/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/21/san_francisco_private_cameras/
[11] https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2022/12/06/san-franciscos-killer-robots-plan-sparks-protest/10841831002/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y5EbDgs1ILMV-xIhn1XaIQAAABE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Look I wish you people would stop misrepresenting it as bombing. It's urban renewal.
https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/stories/move-osage-avenue
https://youtu.be/JBZXRK_1vAQ
>Look I wish you people would stop misrepresenting it as bombing. It's urban renewal.
The RAF, for all your bespoke overnight urban renewal needs
The RAF do have a habit of missing all the Germans when they are lined up on the balcony of SW1A 1AA.
The problem with an violent revolution in dear old Blighty - is that the royals have all the guns.
I think Prince Philip on the balcony with a pair of shotguns is quite an effective air defence.
17 robots unemployed because cops replace them.
What are those 17 robots doing now? Search shows nothing. Bought with no plan in mind. Maybe a kickback was involved.
Even in todays world of active shooters, they almost always have hostages and/or kill themselves quickly, and/or are driving away, in which case the exploding robots are no use.
Solution in search of a problem. Another problem is that when you have a shiny hammer then things start to look like nails just because you want to hammer on something. OK, the chance of that kind of mistake might be small, but so is the chance SF would actually have a static holed up active shooter without hostages that could be approached by a bomb carrying robot.
And never, ever would there be 17 such cases on the same day. So what are those robots for?
If such robots were really needed (not saying they are, but for the sake of argument, suppose they are) it could be done at the state level, and require civilian governor approval. A few robots for the whole state with a few state trooper operators trained to use them. Dispatched on need.
Re: 17 robots unemployed because cops replace them.
17 ARMED, explosive-laden, kamikaze robots unemployed because cops replace them !
::sighs::
Rabbit on with half truths crossed with bad scifi scripts all you want in your sophomoric effort to be "funny".
During the meanwhile, there is actually a real story here.
The fact is, the elected Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 in favo(u)r of the cops using a tool, if needed. Then about 200 loud-mouthed, paranoid psychos bellyached about it, loudly, on the steps of City Hall, which in turn was HEAVILY covered by news sources (including ElReg).
This caused the 11 Supes to change their vote.
That's right, folks. About 200 people, through sheer screaming alone (who needs facts when you can be LOUD?), managed to change the combined will of the 11 people who were put in place by some 815,000 people to make these decisions. Which effectively means that all you need to be in charge of San Francisco is 200 psychotic, paranoid screamers.
The mind absolutely boggles.
Re: ::sighs::
These "tools" are always presented as only being used "if needed"
There is really no difference from police using a robot to bomb a dangerous person, and police dropping a bomb from a helicopter on said dangerous persons. Which is what the MOVE bombing was. We have been there. We know what happened.
The real question is if police actually need to blow people up with bombs, 16 ton weights, artillery, drones, blinding lasers, tigers, or any of the other myriad of military technologies that might be effective "if needed"
The robot angle was correctly seen for what it was: a fashionable (and cowardly) way for police to blow people up, and no, we don't want it authorised.
Re: ::sighs::
So, not so much a robot, more like a surface drone?
Re: ::sighs::
They are remotely operated vehicles, some wheeled, some tracked, no stomp-bots to the best of my knowledge. They require a human operator, having no built-in "thinking" capability. Essentially, they are largish RC cars.
Detractors only use the "robot" name to make them sound scarier than they really are.
Re: ::sighs::
Hyperbole and decades old cases where both sides were clearly in the wrong don't work here.
Try again, with less emotion.
Re: ::sighs::
Which effectively means that all you need to be in charge of San Francisco is 200 psychotic, paranoid screamers.
Same thing works for UK prime ministers.
Re: ::sighs::
Yep. And in DC. And in Sacramento.
Is it true...
... then when they hit the shutdown button, all the little diagnostics displays briefly showed a single phrase: "I'll be back!"
I was wondering what had happened to the first law
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