Robots!
It is genuinely startling how many of my articles come down to that lede. But for reals, there is now a real, honest to goodness Robocop.
An actual place (Dubai) has actual robots doing actual police work.
Only one
Well, they have an actual robot doing actual police work – just the one so far. But Dubai has plans in place for a quarter of its police force to be faceless footsoldiers of the machine apocalypse – ahem – that is, robot officers by 2030.
They’re even programmed to read facial expressions!
Oh good. I imagine the “existential horror” input in particular will come in handy.
But seriously
As a science fiction apocalypse, this robot’s pretty weaksauce. For one thing, he’s not armed. His offensive options are limited to those spooky camera eyes giving evildoers a stern glare. For another, he’s neither empowered nor equipped to physically restrain arrestees.
As a step toward responsible policing, however, he may just be what the doctor ordered.
And not the cackling mad-scientist evil robot doctor, either — the good kind of doctor. My dude is less Robocop than Robo-App, an independently mobile touch interface that provides a direct link to Dubai police headquarters, allowing people to report crimes, pay fines and communicate with emergency services at their convenience.
That’s – dare I say it – a pretty good use for a robot policeman.
To put on my Serious Hat for a moment (it’s a silk top hat, the most serious of all headwear) the question of tech’s role in law enforcement is a complex one, but major applications to date – automated surveillance in the UK, police drones right here in the US of A – have, to say the least, not been characterized by increased transparency of law enforcement agencies. Quite the opposite.
On second thought
For all its film dystopia looks, at bottom the Dubai solution (which would be a great title for that dystopian film – “The Dubai Solution”) is an open line of communication between citizens and local police. It’s also a convenient means of handling minor lawbreaking that takes natural, volatile human tempers out of the equation, which is one of the many ways minor lawbreaking can turn into violent incidents of the kind we in the States have seen far too many of in the last few years.
On this one, at least, I for one welcome our new robotic overlords.
#RoboCop
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