Opposition to allowing San Francisco police to use deadly force with robots grows
SAN FRANCISCO -- Vocal opposition to allowing the San Francisco Police Department to use deadly force with remote-controlled robots in certain circumstances grew Monday ahead of a second SF Board of Supervisors vote on the matter.
A crowd that included three current San Francisco supervisors rallied on the steps of City Hall Monday morning. Opponents to the recent decision want the supervisors to reverse their vote.
Although supervisors voted last week 8-3 in favor of the department being able to use of deadly force with robots in specific situations, the policy requires one final vote scheduled for Tuesday before it heads to Mayor London Breed's desk for approval.
The vote was prompted by a new California law requiring police to inventory military-grade equipment such as flashbang grenades, assault rifles and armored vehicles, and seek approval from the public for their use.
SF Supervisor Dean Preston is one of three supervisors to vote against the measure last week. He says the police department and Mayor Breed did not follow state law by failing to give the board the required 30-days notice of the policy, which would have allowed for a public hearing on the matter.
Preston was joined at Monday's rally by Supervisor Hillary Ronen and Board President Shaman Walton, who said the time to act is now.
"It is important that we take a stand right now. Because if we don't, with the increased surveillance, if we don't with the fact that killer robots are right now so far allowed to be used in our city, we are going to continue to weaponize police departments versus focus on the reform we've all fought for for decades," said Wilson. "So let's join together and fight this policy and work to make the real change that we are supposed to have in our communities.
The group of demonstrators at the rally also included representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, SF Black Wall Street and SEIU 1021.
"There is no way that I am going to sit by silently and allow a policy as dangerous and as reckless as this to be adopted and to go into effect in the City and County of San Francisco," Preston said Monday. "We will fight this legislatively at the board, will fight this in the streets and on public opinion and if necessary we will fight this at the ballot."
Also on Monday, SF Supervisor Gordon Mar posted on Twitter saying he regrets voting in favor of the policy to allow the SFPD to use potentially lethal robots. He said he will vote no on the policy's final passage Tuesday.
I'm grateful to all who've expressed concerns with our vote authorizing SFPD to use robots to kill suspects in extreme circumstances. Despite my own deep concerns with the policy, I voted for it after additional guardrails were added.
— Gordon Mar 馬兆明 (@D4GordonMar) December 5, 2022
I regret it. I will vote no tomorrow. 1/4
"Despite my own deep concerns with the policy, I voted for it after additional guardrails were added," Mar said in the post. "Even with additional guardrails, I've grown increasingly uncomfortable with our vote and the precedent it sets for other cities without as strong a commitment to police accountability."
The original draft stated the robots would only deploy deadly force "when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available to SFPD."
In the final draft, the phrase "outweighs any other force option available to SFPD" was replaced with "officers cannot subdue the threat after using alternative force options or de-escalation tactics options or conclude that they will not be able to subdue the threat after evaluating alternative force options and de-escalation tactics. Only the Chief, Assistant Chief of Operations, or Deputy Chief of Special Operations may authorize the use of robots as a deadly force option."
Police have argued that it is a needed policy to protect officers' lives in dangerous situations.
San Francisco's police chief on Thursday lauded the Board of Supervisors' decision to approve the police use of lethal force by remote-controlled robots.
Police Chief Bill Scott said in a prepared statement that the use of robots in potentially deadly force situations is a last resort option.
"The passage of this policy is a testament to the confidence Mayor Breed, the Board of Supervisors, and the people of San Francisco have in our department and our officers, and I am humbled by their overwhelming support," said Scott. "We live in a time when unthinkable mass violence is becoming more commonplace. We need the option to be able to save lives in the event we have that type of tragedy in our city."