San Francisco is the first city to allow robots to kill for police in its streets.

Remember Robocop ? It’s becoming a reality in San Francisco. The High Tech City has allowed ‘killer robots’ to patrol in the streets. A spokesperson for the police said “robots could potentially be equipped with explosive charges to breach fortified structures containing violent, armed, or dangerous subjects”.

Those robots could in the near future “incapacitate, or disorient violent, armed, or dangerous suspects who pose a risk of loss of life”.

But how will it be used ? The City board stipulates that only a limited number of high-ranking officers could authorise the use of lethal force by those robots. Their use is for now, not in operation. “No policy can anticipate every conceivable situation or exceptional circumstance which officers may face. The SFPD must be prepared, and have the ability, to respond proportionally,” a spokesperson said. The City Police doesn’t own any of those robots yet.