‘Robocop’-ban bill: no ifs, ands or bots

No Robocops!

A new City Council bill would ban the NYPD from using “weaponized” robots.

“The bill says that you can’t weaponize robots in a way that can harm people,” Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan), who introduced the legislation last week, told The Post on Sunday. “It’s one thing to use a robot to defuse a bomb, but it’s another thing to weaponize a robot for interacting with people.”

Police “use guns when their life is in jeopardy and that is all,” Kallos argued. “If there’s a robot involved, there’s no human life to protect and, therefore, it doesn’t need to be weaponized in the first place.”

There is no evidence that New York City has purchased or considered purchasing armed robots — but Kallos believes the NYPD’s recent use of an unarmed “Digidog” to sniff out a Bronx home invasion could foreshadow future incursions into robo-policing.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also ripped the cyber canine at the time, arguing the money spent on such gadgets could be put to better use.

The NYPD has not disclosed the cost of each Digidog, Kallos said.

“People are already concerned about militarizing police, and this is stopping them before they get any further,” he said.

He is also exploring ways to limit NYPD use of aerial drones, which are regulated on the federal level.

“Whether it’s robots or drones, we need to move away from overpolicing communities and get back to the basics of investing in people and giving people the resources they need,” Kallos said.

An NYPD rep told Wired, which first reported the proposal, that the department “has been using robots since the 1970s to save lives in hostage situations and hazmat incidents.”