As developed as the United States is, it has its share of gun violence and mass shootings to deal with. However, the country has historically done everything it can to curb gun violence, bar anything that makes sense. Such is their freedom.
In a rather bizarre turn of events, the city of San Francisco has allowed its police department to use deadly robots against suspects. If this isn’t straight out of a dystopian movie, then we don’t know what is.
The San Francisco Police Department will now outfit bomb disposal robots with explosives and attempt to kill high-risk suspects by detonating these robots in their vicinity. Photo credit: AFP
According to local reports, the killer robot is controlled by a handler with a remote control and would not have any autonomous functions. In addition, instead of being loaded with firearms, the robot is loaded with explosives that are used to kill or incapacitate suspects.
Police in America have often been accused of being militaristic. In fact, many cities in the US are more heavily armed than many armed forces in some countries – several police departments have their own battle tanks and other combat vehicles that shouldn’t belong among civilians.
This Pandora’s box of using robots as explosives was originally opened by the Dallas Police Department. In 2016, after failed negotiations with a hidden active gunman, DPD wired a disposal robot with explosives, drove it to the suspect and detonated it, killing the gunman.
The San Francisco City Police Department’s claim that it doesn’t arm the robots with firearms isn’t entirely true. A local report from the city states that the SFPD has a total of 17 robots, 12 of which are currently functioning. Most robots used for bomb disposal have the ability to fire shotgun shells at the bombs – basically, these robots used to kill high-risk suspects already have deadly weapons.
In addition, the robots used by most police bomb disposal departments to blow up suspects are made by the same robot manufacturers that supply the US Army. In fact, they are essentially the same robot. Only the load is different. In addition, the robots used by the US Army have some autonomous capabilities.
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