The city of San Francisco has put a policy on hold that would permit police to deploy armed robots to deal with emergency situations.
旧金山市暂停了一项允许警察部署武装机器人来处理紧急情况的政策。
 
The city's Board of Supervisors voted eight to three last week to approve the measure. On Tuesday, however, the board voted to temporarily ban the use of such robots. Board members sent the issue back to a committee for more discussion. They could vote on a new measure in the future permitting use of armed robots.
该市监事会上周以八票对三票通过了该措施。然而，周二，董事会投票决定暂时禁止使用此类机器人。董事会成员将问题发回委员会进行更多讨论。他们可以在未来对一项允许使用武装机器人的新措施进行投票。
 
The policy, considered by the San Francisco Police Department, planned to arm robots with explosives, not guns. Supporters of the policy said it would permit armed robots to be used only in life-threatening situations in which other police methods had failed.
旧金山警察局考虑了这项政策，计划为机器人配备炸药，而不是枪支。该政策的支持者表示，该政策将允许武装机器人仅在其他警察方法无效的危及生命的情况下使用。
 
The measure was strongly opposed by several rights groups and police oversight organizations. Opponents warned that the policy would open the door to future militarization of the police force. They also said it would likely lead to more conflict between police and citizens in poor and minority communities.
该措施遭到多个人权组织和警方监督的强烈反对。反对者警告说，该政策将为未来警察部队的军事化打开大门。他们还表示，这可能会导致贫困和少数族裔社区的警察与公民之间发生更多冲突。
 
A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department, Allison Maxie, explained the policy in a statement. She said it would permit officers to deploy robots equipped with explosives "to contact, incapacitate or disorient violent, armed or dangerous suspects."
旧金山警察局的 A Allison Maxie 在一份声明中解释了这项政策。她说，这将允许警官部署装有炸药的机器人，“以接触暴力、武装或危险的嫌疑人，使其丧失行动能力或迷失方向。”
 
Maxie added that the use of such robots would only be used in "extreme" situations in an effort "to save or prevent further loss of innocent lives."
Maxie 补充说，此类机器人的使用只会用于“极端情况” “ ” 努力“挽救或防止无辜生命的进一步损失”的情况。
 
The policy under consideration stated that officers could use robots only after officers had tried using other forms of force and de-escalation methods against suspects. Only a limited number of leading officers would be able to approve robots to be used as deadly force.
正在考虑的政策规定，只有在官员尝试使用其他形式的武力和降级后，他们才能使用机器人对付疑心的方法。只有少数高级官员能够批准将机器人用作致命力量。
 
The San Francisco policy came about because of a California state law. The law requires police departments to examine all military-grade equipment and seek approval from the public for its use.
旧金山政策的出台是因为加利福尼亚州的一项法律。法律要求警察部门检查所有军用级设备，并征求公众的使用许可。
 
So far, two California cities – San Francisco and Oakland – have publicly discussed the use of robots as part of the state's legal requirement.
到目前为止，加利福尼亚州的两个城市——旧金山和奥克兰——已经公开讨论使用机器人作为国家法律要求的一部分。
 
Across the United States, police have used robots over the past 10 years to communicate with blockaded suspects, enter possibly dangerous spaces and, in rare cases, to carry out deadly force. Experts say, however, that the use of such robots remains rare even as the technology progresses.
在过去的 10 年里，美国各地的警察都使用机器人与被封锁的可疑人员进行交流，进入可能危险的空间，并在极少数情况下执行致命武力.然而，专家表示，即使技术取得成功，此类机器人的使用仍然很少见。
 
Dallas police became the first police force to kill a suspect with a robot in 2016. In that case, police used a robot to blow up explosives during a standoff with a shooter who had killed five police officers and injured nine others.
达拉斯警方在 2016 年成为第一支使用机器人击毙嫌疑人的警察部队。在那起案件中，警方在与枪手对峙时使用机器人引爆了炸药，这名枪手杀死了 5 名警察，炸伤了 9 人。
 
The new San Francisco policy has reopened debates in the U.S. over the ethics of using robots to kill a suspect.
旧金山新政策在美国重新引发争论关于使用机器人杀死嫌疑人的道德问题。
 
Michael White is a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. He told The Associated Press that even if robotics companies present deadlier methods to police officials, it does not mean departments will buy them.
迈克尔怀特是亚利桑那州立大学犯罪学和刑事司法学院的教授。他告诉美联社，即使机器人公司向警察官员展示了更致命的方法，也不意味着部门会购买它们。
 
"It's hard to say what will happen in the future, but I think weaponized robots very well could be the next thing that departments don't want because communities are saying they don't want them," White said.
“很难说未来会发生什么，但我认为武器化机器人很可能是下一个部门不想要的东西，因为社区说他们不想要它们，”怀特说。
 
Protesters marched outside City Hall on Monday to express their opposition to San Francisco's policy. City Supervisor Dean Preston joined the demonstrators. He told other supervisors he felt the public had not been given enough time to voice their opinions on the issue.
周一，抗议者在市政厅外游行，表达他们对旧金山政策的反对。城市主管迪恩普雷斯顿参加了示威。他告诉其他主管，他觉得公众没有足够的时间就这个问题发表意见。
 
"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."
“旧金山人民已经大声而明确地说：杀人警察机器人没有立足之地在我们的城市，”他在投票后的一份声明中说。 “我们应该研究减少当地执法部门使用武力的方法，而不是给他们新的杀人工具。”
 
The new measure still permits police to use robots to be sent into dangerous situations to keep officers at a safe distance. San Francisco police currently have a limited number of ground robots designed to investigate bombs or provide an extra set of eyes.
新措施仍然允许警察使用机器人去危险的地方使警员保持安全距离的情况。旧金山警方目前拥有数量有限的地面机器人，旨在调查炸弹或提供额外服务
 
Supervisor Aaron Peskin brought forward last week's motion on the city's use of robots. He said, "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."
主管亚伦·佩斯金 (Aaron Peskin) 提出了上周关于该市使用机器人的动议。他说，“拥有有眼睛和耳朵并且可以移除炸弹的机器人——这种情况时有发生——是我们希望警察部门在我们继续进行这个非常有争议的讨论的同时做的事情。”
 
Speaking about the possible use of armed robots, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement, "We live in a time when unthinkable mass violence is becoming more commonplace. We need the option to be able to save lives in the event we have that type of tragedy in our city."
在谈到可能使用武装机器人时，旧金山警察局长比尔斯科特在一份声明中说，“我们生活在一个不可想象的大规模暴力变得越来越普遍的时代。我们需要能够在我们拥有的情况下拯救生命的选择我们城市发生的那种悲剧。”