The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday will consider accepting a donation for the Los Angeles Police Department to receive a dog-like robot, though critics worry about expanding police surveillance.
The robot — a quadruped unmanned ground vehicle called Spot — is valued at about $280,000, which the Los Angeles Police Foundation plans to donate, the L.A. Times reported.
If approved by the council on Tuesday, the LAPD would use the canine Boston Dynamics robot for reconnaissance in situations like SWAT incidents.
Critics, however, argue that Spot would instead be misused to monitor and target people in poor Black and brown communities.
A similar situation occurred in New York City, where the New York Police Department utilized the robot from 2020 until last year, when a viral video showed the dog “trotting alongside New York City officers during a hostage situation at a high-rise public housing building,” the Times reported.
After the controversy, the NYPD returned the robot and ended its contract with Boston Dynamics, the Times added.
One critic took aim at the LAPF for providing the funding, noting that “these foundations end up buying weapons that ultimately harm people in our Black and brown communities.”
As of midday Tuesday, the council had not yet taken a vote on the donation.