See Spot spy? A new generation of police robots faces backlash

A woman holds up a sign outside San Francisco City Hall at a demonstration against the use of robots by the city’s police department. “Piecemeal efforts” by local officials to regulate police use of such technology have largely failed to keep pace with a rapidly evolving field of robotics, said Elizabeth Joh, a UC Davis law professor. It would allow some senior police officials to authorize the use of robots “as a deadly force option” in limited, violent situations when less extreme measures have failed. Last week, Assemblywoman Akilah Weber announced that she had introduced a bill to “regulate, limit and require the reporting of the use of deadly force by a law enforcement agency by means of remotely operated equipment.” “With several cities in California considering policies to govern law enforcement’s use of deadly force by remotely-operated equipment, it is time to begin discussions about these devices,” she tweeted. In a brief statement to The Times, the company said that Spot’s use “in public safety applications” was to “keep people out of harm’s way and help first responders assess hazardous situations.” It cited the robot’s use by several law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere, including Houston, where Spot was used in the apprehension of a barricaded murder suspect, and the Netherlands, where it’s been deployed to sweep suspected drug labs before officers are sent in.