When Police Use Robots to Kill People

The police shooting in Dallas on Thursday marks a milestone in the history of American law enforcement: This is the first time a police department used a robot to kill someone, experts say. On Friday morning, the city’s police chief, David Brown, said officers used a robot to set off an explosive, killing a suspect in the shooting deaths of five police officers after failing to persuade him to surrender. The act raised uncomfortable questions at a time of increasing concern about the police using sophisticated technology that was once employed exclusively in war zones.

The details of the incident are still emerging, but it’s clear that the robot used in this operation was far from the killer droids of science fiction. Police deployed a small machine typically used to investigate dangerous situations or defuse bombs; it was more akin to a sophisticated remote-control car than drones used by the military. An explosive was affixed to the robot and detonated. The Dallas Police Department declined to comment further.