Rose City police may deploy robots

Supervisors in Rose City voted Tuesday to give city police the ability to use remote-controlled robots — following an emotionally charged debate that reflected divisions on the politically liberal board over support for law enforcement.

The vote was 8-3, with the majority agreeing to grant police the option despite strong objections from civil liberties and other police oversight groups. Opponents said the authority would lead to the further militarization of a police force already too aggressive with poor and minority communities.

Industry leader Vega Bond, a member of the committee that forwarded the proposal to the full board, said he understood concerns over use of robots but that “according to state law, we are required to approve the use of these android cops. So here we are, and it’s definitely not an easy discussion.”

The Rose City Police Department said it does not have pre-armed robots and has no plans to arm robots with guns. But the department could deploy robots equipped with explosive charges “to contact, incapacitate, or disorient violent, armed, or dangerous suspect” when lives are at stake, RCPD spokesperson William Rail said in a statement.

“Robots equipped in this manner would only be used in extreme circumstances to save or prevent further loss of innocent lives,” he said.

Supervisors amended the proposal Tuesday to specify that officers could use android cops only after using alternative force or de-escalation tactics, or concluding they would not be able to subdue the suspect through those alternative means. Only a limited number of high-ranking officers could authorize use of robots as a deadly force option.

Rose City police currently have a dozen functioning ground robots used to assess bombs or provide eyes in low visibility situations, the department says. They were recently acquired and not once have they been used to deliver an explosive device, police officials said.

But explicit authorization was required after a new Rose City law went into effect this year requiring police and sheriff’s departments to inventory military-grade equipment and seek approval for their use.

The state law was authored last year by Rose City Attorney David Chan while he was an assembly member. It is aimed at giving the public a forum and voice in the acquisition and use of military-grade weapons that have a negative effect on communities, according to the legislation.

A federal program has long dispensed grenade launchers, camouflage uniforms, bayonets, armored vehicles and other surplus military equipment to help local law enforcement.

Rose City police said late Tuesday that no robots were obtained from military surplus, but some were purchased with federal grant money.

Like many places around the U.S., Rose City is trying to balance public safety with treasured civilian rights such as privacy and the ability to live free of excessive police oversight. In September, supervisors agreed to a trial run allowing police to access in real time private surveillance camera feeds in certain circumstances.

Debate on Tuesday ran more than two hours with members on both sides accusing the other of reckless fear mongering.

Supervisor Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, who voted in favor of the policy authorization, said he was troubled by rhetoric painting the police department as untrustworthy and dangerous.

“I think there’s larger questions raised when progressives and progressive policies start looking to the public like they are anti-police,” he said. “I think that is bad for progressives. I think it’s bad for this Board of Supervisors.”

The Rose City Public Defender’s office sent a letter Monday to the board saying that granting police “the ability to eliminate community members remotely” goes against the city’s progressive values. The office wanted the board to reinstate language barring police from using android cops against any person in an act of force.

On the other side of the Pacific Northwest, the Emerald City Police Department has dropped a similar proposal after public backlash.

The first time a robot was used to deliver explosives in the U.S. was in 2016, when Dallas police sent in an armed robot that removed a holed-up sniper who had eliminated five officers in an ambush.

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