Adding local oversight to hardware obtained through a US Department of Defense program that sends billions of dollars of military equipment to local police departments is one of the effects of the new law. In the aftermath of the police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and George Floyd in Minneapolis, equipment from the program was used against protesters.
The draft policy for military-grade police equipment in San Francisco was amended earlier this year by the supervisor. An amendment proposed by the San Francisco Police Department argued that police need to be free to use robotic force if they have to respond to incidents in which multiple people are killed. The amendment said that deadly force is the only way to mitigate mass casualties.
Brian Cox, director of the Integrity Unit at the San Francisco Public Defenders Office, called the change antithetical to the progressive values the city has always stood for. He said in a letter to the board of supervisors that this was a false choice because they wanted to write their own rules.
SFPD has a history of using excessive force against people of color. The policy has been opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
According to the San Francisco Police Department, it has 17 robots. Search-and-rescuerobots designed for use after a natural disaster, but also models that can be equipped with a shotgun, explosives, or pepper spray are included.
The potential for police use of explosives to go wrong was raised by the supervisor during the debate. A fire that killed 11 people and destroyed 61 homes was caused by police dropping explosives from a helicopter.
Peskin said that the fact that there has never been a similar incident in San Francisco gave him some comfort. He was the one who voted to allow the use of deadlyrobots. Only the chief of police, assistant chief of operations, or deputy chief of special operations could authorize use of deadly force with a robot.
The tech hub of San Francisco has a number of laws on policing technology. In September, city leaders gave police access to private security camera footage, after they passed a law rejecting police use of tasers.
San Francisco has an inconsistent record on police technology, according to the supervisor. He said that police shouldn't be trusted with stun guns. We don't have an army.
San Francisco has a new policy that comes at a time when police access torobots is growing. Police forces in New York and Germany are starting to use leggedrobots like the quadruped Spot Mini.
The manufacturer of the taser wants to add a weapon to drones. Researchers in China are working on quadrupeds that can be used with drones to chase down suspects.
Boston Dynamics, a pioneer of legged robots, and five other manufacturers wrote an open letter in October objecting to the weaponization of their robots. Customers can mount guns on the legged robots of Ghost Robotics, a Pennsylvania company that is in pilot projects with the US military and Department of Homeland Security.
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