San Francisco police may soon let robot cops use lethal force as a last resort, SFPost reported. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is set to vote on the Enforcement Use of Equipment Policy next week which will decide whether the 17 robot cops with the department are allowed to use lethal force. The robots run on remote control. 

An earlier draft clearly stated robots shall not be used as Use of Force against any person. But, San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) changed the language to: “Robots will only be used as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers are imminent and outweigh any other force option available to SFPD.” 

The draft was changed as the police department argued “there could be scenarios where the deployment of lethal force was the only option.” 

The draft has irked many activists who think allowing robot cops to use deadly force is risky. “You’ve got to be kidding,” tweeted American Civil Liberties Union’s Northern California chapter. 

Jan Stanley, an ACLU policy analyst wrote in a blog post that the union’s greatest concern is “armed robots will be overused.” 

“As robots allow deadly force to be applied more easily and with less risk to police officers, and as they get cheaper and more commonplace, there is a risk that they will turn into another avenue for abusive behaviour by some law enforcement,” wrote Stanley. 

Stanley’s blog had come after police in Dallas used a robot to kill a man who shot five police officials in 2016. 

A similar push to allow robot cops to use lethal force has been made in Oakland. However, the move met with such backlash that the policy had to be abandoned. 

In San Francisco, the board will meet to vote on the issue on November 29, Tuesday.