SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco supervisors voted Tuesday to put the brakes on a controversial policy that would have let police use robots for deadly force, reversing course just days after their approval of the plan generated fierce pushback and warnings about the militarization and automation of policing.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to explicitly ban the use of robots in such a fashion for now. But they sent the issue back to a committee for further discussion and could vote in the future to let police use robots in a lethal manner in limited cases.

The board voted last week to allow the use of deadly robots in extreme circumstances. The police department said it had no plans to arm the robots with guns but wanted the ability to put explosives on them and use then to contact, incapacitate or disorient dangerous or armed suspects when lives are at risk.

The initial vote thrust the famously liberal city into the center of a debate about the future of technology and policing, with some saying arming robots was a step too close to something one would see in a dystopian science fiction movie. Though robot technology for policing has become more widely available, departments across the country have rarely used it to confront or kill suspects.

Three supervisors who rejected the policy from the beginning joined dozens of protesters Monday outside City Hall to urge the board to change course. They chanted and held signs with phrases like “We all saw that movie… No Killer Robots.”

Supervisor Dean Preston was among them, and on Tuesday he told his colleagues the public hadn’t been given enough time to voice their concerns about such a pressing issue.

“The people of San Francisco have spoken loud and clear: There is no place for killer police robots in our city,” he said in a statement after the vote. “We should be working on ways to decrease the use of force by local law enforcement, not giving them new tools to kill people.”

The vote was the result of a new state law that requires police departments to inventory equipment including certain guns, grenades, armored vehicles and battering rams and to seek explicit approval for their use. So far, only San Francisco and Oakland have discussed lethal robots as part of that law. Oakland police wanted to arm robots with shotguns but backed down in the face of public opposition, instead opting for pepper spray.

Some San Francisco officials wanted to proceed with allowing robots to use deadly force in certain cases, arguing nothing substantive had changed to warrant a reversal. But the vote to advance the broader police equipment policy — including the ban on lethal robots — passed unanimously.

It still allows police to use robots to check out potentially dangerous scenes so that officers can stay back.

“Having robots that have eyes and ears and can remove bombs, which happens from time to time, is something that we want the police department to do while we continue to have this very controversial discussion,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who brought forward last week’s motion around the use of robots.

The new policy needs another vote to take effect.

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Many metropolitan departments strictly limit shooting to moving vehicles, but dozens of fatal incidents keep occurring

ELIZABETH CITY, NC – U.S. law enforcement agencies – including in major cities like New York and Denver – strictly limit shooting to moving vehicles because they consider the practice ineffective and not worth the risk to human lives.

But dozens of shootings still happen every year – with deadly consequences – because many departments continue to give officers too much leeway to open fire, according to groups advocating stricter guidelines.

Last month, sheriff’s MPs fatally shot and killed an unarmed black man in his car as he appeared to be driving away in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. MPs were released Tuesday by a prosecutor who said Andrew Brown Jr. used his BMW as a “deadly weapon”.

Proponents of police reform say officers should only fire when deadly force other than the vehicle is used or to stop terrorism. And while not all law enforcement experts agree, the issue is among the many practices under investigation in light of the nationwide demands for police reform and racial justice sparked by George Floyd’s death in police custody last May.

Several cities, including Phoenix, have had stricter policies in place since June 2020, and other cities are considering it, according to advocacy group Campaign Zero. Cities that are already severely restricted include Las Vegas, Miami, and San Francisco.

The North Carolina body camera footage shows six Pasquotank County Sheriff MPs surrounding Brown’s car with guns drawn while they serve drug-related warrants in his Elizabeth City home.

The video shows one of the MPs putting his hand on the driver’s door and then screaming and pulling back while Brown pulls back. Seconds later, the same proxy appears to be in the way of the car when Brown drives forward.

The deputy avoids a direct hit after pressing his hand on the hood of the moving car and quickly moving to the side. Gunshots can then be heard and officers appear to continue firing as the car moves away from them. Brown was killed by a bullet in the back of the head.

District Attorney Andrew Womble, who showed the footage at a press conference, said the shooting was justified.

“If you use a car in such a way that the officers’ lives are in danger, it is a threat,” said Womble. “And I don’t care which way you go – forwards, backwards, sideways. I don’t care if you are stationary. And neither do our courts or our jurisprudence. “

Rev. Al Sharpton, who praised Brown at his funeral, said in a statement that Womble’s justification was “bizarre” and “inconclusive”. Kirk Rivers, an Elizabeth City community activist, said MPs “turned the car into a weapon by standing in front of them.”

Some law enforcement experts say shooting at moving vehicles should be avoided.

“If someone doesn’t shoot cops in the car, you can get the car another day – but you can’t get that life back,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit independent group that studies police issues.

“The whole idea is not putting yourself in a position where you feel like you have no choice but to use lethal force,” Wexler said. “We don’t want police officers standing in front of cars to risk their lives. And we don’t want them to shoot vehicles to risk lives. “

The Pasquotank County Sheriff’s use of force policy states that MPs should avoid a car instead of shooting at it “when it can be done.”

The directive also states that an MP should only fire if he “reasonably believes that no other reasonable means are available”.

Wexler said such a policy gives MPs too much leeway to put themselves at risk – and open fire. The rules must be “very restrictive and be accompanied by training courses”.

In a 2016 report, the Police Executive Research Forum called for strict restrictions on shooting vehicles unless other violence is used. A reduction in the number of deadly violence resulting from New York politics has been cited.

City police shootings fell from nearly 1,000 a year in 1972 to 665 the following year, “and have since declined steadily to less than 100 a year today,” the report said.

New York City changed its policy in 1972 after an officer shot and killed an 11-year-old boy who was escaping in a stolen car. The city of Denver made a similar change after a 17-year-old girl was fatally shot while driving a stolen vehicle towards an officer in 2015.

Earlier this year, Phoenix introduced a stricter policy for shooting moving vehicles. It makes an exception when there is a threat other than the vehicle itself. And it makes an exception for obvious acts of terrorism.

Samuel Sinyangwe, data scientist and co-founder of Campaign Zero, said 55 people were killed by police last year in situations where a moving vehicle was the only suspected threat.

“Every year we track 50, 60, 70 people who are killed by the police in these situations,” said Sinyangwe.

When officers shoot moving vehicles, criminal charges are rare. Phil Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University, said he has known 11 police officers in the United States since 2005 who were charged with murder or manslaughter after they shot someone they claimed to have used their car as a weapon.

However, some law enforcement experts argue that on rare occasions, officials need leeway in which to save their own lives or others.

“We can’t imagine every scenario,” said Brian Higgins, public safety advisor and former New Jersey chief of police. “They just don’t know if an officer has no choice.”

Higgins, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said internal investigations and state and federal investigations also hold officials accountable.

“Making an automatic blanket statement that this should never happen is not feasible,” he said.

Lavoie reported from Richmond, Virginia.

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NAPA (KPIX) – A judge has ordered an elderly sexually violent predator to be brought to San Francisco after a strong public outcry over its proximity to Napa County’s children and schools.

Charles Leroy Christman was first assigned to the California Department of Mental Health back in 1997 after being convicted of sexually assaulting boys between the ages of 7 and 14. The 76-year-old was released to Walnut Creek in 2015 and re-admitted to Coalinga State Hospital after allegedly trying to contact a boy at a community center.

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Christman was released to a residence in Coombsville last October, sparking a wave of opposition.

Napa residents sent 500 letters and a petition with 793 signatures to the Napa District Attorney’s Office demanding that Christman be taken to San Francisco, where the crimes were committed. They indicated that 62 children and two schools were near his home at 4018 E. 3rd Avenue.

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On Monday, the San Francisco Supreme Court ordered Christman to be relocated to a San Francisco address on or before April 25, adding that the move had been announced and had no objections.

Deputy District Attorney Agnes Dziadur, who handled the case, praised the court’s decision.

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“This change of heart by the San Francisco Supreme Court is testament to our office’s commitment to notifying the Napa community, providing a mechanism for boosting the neighborhood voices, and the patience to go through the correct procedures to ensure Mr. Christman has an appropriate placement – outside of Napa County, ”Dziadur said.

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