4 ms·
It might not be a bad thing. Most of the justification for police shootings is self defense (of the officers). A robot doesn’t have a right to self defense. It
by sjducb 3y ago
It might not be a bad thing.
Most of the justification for police shootings is self defense (of the officers). A robot doesn’t have a right to self defense. It’s well established that you can’t use lethal force to protect property, and robots are property.
A mentally ill person can wave a gun in the robot’s face for as long as they like. They can even shoot and destroy the robots. (Robots are property)
I think a police robot could only shoot a suspect if the suspect posed a risk to a human.
Sending in a bunch of robots with pepper spray + tasers to subdue the armed suspect is probably much safer for everyone, including the suspect.
- bitwize 3y agoFound the CEO of TetraVaal.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- rascul 3y ago> It’s well established that you can’t use lethal force to protect property Except in Texas.
- sjducb 3y agoI checked and surprisingly this is true.
- esafak 3y agoIt's a bad thing. Most of the world is oppressive. This is just going to make it worse.
- jstarfish 3y agoI want to agree with you, but look at how Tasers played out. They were marketed as a weapon officers could draw in situations where they'd otherwise be using deadly force. In practice they're used as shock therapy to enforce compliance-- cattle prods for humans. So although in theory a robot dog could just stand there all day taking fire while negotiating surrender, it won't. The suspect will just be leaving in a body bag in 3 minutes or less, to minimize risk to officer safety and maximize number of calls responded to. When it comes to all new tech, always assume the worst possible outcome will become standard operating procedure. Be very afraid of bean-counters deputizing Metal Gear and unleashing it in your neighborhood.
- Arrath 3y agoI fully expect a robot with a badge to get classified as a police officer rather than property, allowing the SWAT guy behind the joystick to gleefully blast away with impunity whenever the perp acts squirrely.
- Stevvo 3y agoWe can look at precedent to see how things might turn out in this situation. A police K9 is property in the same sense. i.e. the dog is not a person, and lethal force can't be used to defend it. In practice, it doesn't work out that way. Cops are taught to defend K9 units as if they were human officers. Courts and juries side with the arguments of the police on this.