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San Francisco police permitted to use militarised robots armed with explosives as last resort in emergency situations
Posted Mon 5 Dec 2022 at 10:46am
San Francisco has voted to allow police to use remote-controlled robots armed with explosives, amid increasing scrutiny of the justice system across the United States.
Key points:
San Francisco police will be allowed to use robots fitted with explosives in limited situations
Experts say backlash from the community may lead officers to reject using the devices
Police across the United States face increasing pressure to de-militarise
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 on Tuesday local time to permit police to deploy the devices in limited situations where lives are at stake and no other alternative is available.
Police departments across the US have faced increasing pressure over the use of militarised equipment and force amid a years-long reckoning on criminal justice.
The vote was prompted by a new California law requiring police to inventory military-grade equipment such as flashbang grenades, assault rifles and armoured vehicles, and seek approval from the public for their use.
So far, police in just two California cities — San Francisco and Oakland — have publicly discussed the use of robots as part of that process.
Around the country, police have used robots over the past decade to communicate with barricaded suspects, enter potentially dangerous spaces and, in rare cases, for deadly force.
Dallas police became the first to kill a suspect with a robot in 2016, when they used one to detonate explosives during a stand-off with a sniper who had killed five police officers and injured nine others.
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