If it were actual (autonomous) robots, yes. The article is actually talking about ROVs (remote-operated vehicles). The city still needs to pay a human operato

If it were actual (autonomous) robots, yes. The article is actually talking about ROVs (remote-operated vehicles). The city still needs to pay a human operator, who happens to be a moderate distance away. It's arguably financially justified in the policing case because policing can be dangerous. Cleaning up [stuff] and sanitizing things isn't particularly dangerous, so you're basically just buying a robot to make your janitor less efficient.