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In a sudden change, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to send plans that would let police use “killer robots” back to a committee for further review. It’s a reversal from last week’s vote allowing the use of robots in extraordinary circumstances and only as a last resort. But Straight Arrow News contributor Adrienne Lawrence argues even the prospect of employing armed robots is horrifying, and would disproportionately affect marginalized populations already burdened by police departments’ use of excessive force.
If arming robots isn’t a dystopian nightmare in the making, I don’t know what is. Law enforcement is already unreasonably and unnecessarily militarized. Injecting armed robots into the equation will simply threaten more lives, starting with those in San Francisco, it appears. What is the city’s leadership thinking?
The board majority seems to think that citizens should not be concerned because San Francisco P.D. promises only to arm robots with explosives, rather than firearms. They also promise the robots will be used sparingly and only with the approval of the police chief, assistant chief of operations or deputy chief of special operations.
These promises are not comforting. In fact, they ring hollow as police also promise to protect and serve yet so many of us marginalized people are unprotected and ignored — if not targeted. Since 2000, some 58 people have been shot and killed by police in San Francisco. Black people make up around 5% of the city, but over 30% of fatal police shootings. At least 14% of those killed by police were unhoused, even though the homeless represent just 1% of San Francisco’s population. And 38% of those shot by S.F. police have a history of mental illness. And so on. It’s the vulnerable members of society who disproportionately suffer at the hands of SFPD.
American law enforcement has been trained to shoot first and ask questions later. Time and again, officers show us that they do not have the wherewithal and training to de-escalate situations or exercise sound judgment when interacting with marginalized communities.
