The San Francisco police are not allowed to use robots that can kill people

The police of the American city of San Francisco is not allowed to use robots to kill people. At the end of November, the members of a local government body voted in favor of the policy that would allow this, but that will not happen anyway.

Last month it was announced that the San Francisco Police Department had filed an application to use robots against humans in interventions where the lives of police officers are at risk. In those cases, the robots would also be allowed to kill humans, but only if there really are no other options left.

The Board of Supervisors voted in favor of the new policy, despite opposition from civil rights groups. Among other things, they feared more victims of police brutality. A second, mandatory round of voting followed on Tuesday. That must take place before a new policy can be sent to the mayor for approval. However, in the second round, the majority voted to ban the use of lethal force by police robots.

The local newspaper San Francisco Chronicle notes that this turnaround is quite unusual, as the Council’s second rounds of voting are formalities reflecting the results of the first votes. The regulators also returned the original policy proposing the use of killing robots for review. That could be changed to include stricter rules for the use of bomb-equipped robots, or the old proposal could be scrapped altogether.