New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the return of robot dogs to serve in the city police. This is reported by The Verge.
Adams said that robots in the police will help save the lives of citizens. The city authorities purchased two Robots Spot from Boston Dynamics in the amount of 750 thousand dollars. According to the report, robot dogs will be used by police only in cases of bomb threat.
According to journalists, the robots were returned to the police after a two-year break – at the end of April 2021, the robots were forced to be removed after the discontent of activists about the possibility of tracking people with the help of machines. Nevertheless, activists again reacted to mayor Adams’ decision. “New York deserves real safety, not a fake robocop,” the participants of the STOP initiative group noted.
It is known, at least two cases of the use of robot dogs by the police of New York. In 2020, the robot was used for reconnaissance when the suspect barricaded himself in his home. In 2021, the car helped police to study the situation inside the building in which another suspect had fled.
Also, the police announced the acquisition of a robot K5 ASR, which will help patrol officers monitor order. In addition, representatives of the law enforcement agency spoke about the acquisition of the Guardian HX installation installed on patrol cars, which will allow “shelling” the pursued cars with GPS beacons.
At the end of 2022, the san Francisco authorities banned the use of robots to eliminate suspects and criminals. Also, 44 local public organizations signed a letter against the law on robots.