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Robots killing people. At first, that sounds like a horror idea from a sci-fi movie like “Terminator”. This scenario could soon become reality in the American city of San Francisco (state of California). The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) has introduced a motion to the board of directors that, if approved, would allow robot killings of suspects. This is reported by, among others, the British “Guardian”.

The SFPD is restricting demand for a “license to kill” for robots themselves – the machines should only be used if there is an imminent threat to police officers’ lives. Still, members of the City of San Francisco Board of Governors have criticized the application, some harshly. The panel’s chairman, Aaron Peskin, originally planned to explicitly ban killings by robots, but the phrase “Robots must not commit violence against humans” was removed from the SFPD’s motion.

Instead of the explicit prohibition, there is now a different sentence in the police application: “Robots may only kill when the lives of police officers are in danger and all other options have been deemed insufficient.”

“We live in a dystopian future”

Criticism of the police’s request has come from lawyers and civil rights groups. “We live in a dystopian future as we debate whether police should be allowed to kill people without trial and without using robots,” civil rights attorney Tifanei Moyer told Mission Local. The discussion about deadly violence by robots is not normal.

In the past, the police in the United States have already killed a human with the help of a robot. In 2016, a sniper shot killed five police officers in Dallas, Texas. Negotiations with the perpetrator failed, so the police equipped a robot with an explosive charge, which is otherwise actually used to defuse bombs. Using the remote control, they steered the robot close to the sniper and detonated the explosive charge, killing the sniper.

The controversial motion will be discussed next week by the San Francisco board of directors. However, there are already robots in the SFPD arsenal – so far, however, the agency has only used them for terrain reconnaissance and bomb disposal.