Aggregated News
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to bar police from using robots to kill, in a striking reversal that comes just a week after it gave law enforcement that right in a limited number of situations.
The board had received widespread criticism after voting Nov. 29 to approve a police proposal authorizing law enforcement to deploy remote-controlled, ground-based robots to use deadly force when there is “imminent” risk to life and alternative measures to subdue the threat do not work.
Officials on Tuesday also sent the issue back to a committee for additional review, leaving the policy open to future amendment.
District Supervisor Dean Preston (D), who had voted against the measure last week, called the reversal “crucial.”
“There have been more killings at the hands of police than any other year on record nationwide,” Preston said in a statement. “We should be working on ways to decrease the use of force by local law enforcement, not giving them new tools to kill people.”
“Common sense prevailed,” said Supervisor Hillary Ronen (D), who had also originally opposed the...