Knightscope: The Future is Now

Knightscope is a robotics company that focuses on producing and maintaining autonomous security robots. While their initial models are clearly not as sexy as "Robocop", pictured above, their robots have begun a revolution in the security industry. When one is deployed, the robot provides 24/7 recorded surveillance, license plate reading/recording capability, and provides for real-time notification to law enforcement in the event of suspicious activity. It is also arguable that once these R2D2's become more mainstream, they will help to provide an added measure of deterrence (much like surveillance cameras do, but with real-time notification capability).

This is not to say that these robots have not come without their share of setbacks. Recently, one of Knightscope's newer models allegedly committed "suicide" in a Washington D.C. fountain by rolling itself straight into the water. In its hilarious take on the incident, NY Mag said "the pressure was too much for the rolling robot, which can turn, beep, and whistle in order to maintain order." Ok, that is definitely funny; but on a more serious note, what do these "beings" mean for the future of policing? Everything? Nothing? Let's explore.

Knightscope robot rolls itself into a fountain while patrolling the Georgetown Waterfront.

The Future of Law Enforcement?

Presently, these robots are capable of little more than observing, recording, and reporting (much like "Paul Blart"). But, with a little imagination, one can envision a world policed by robots, tasked with keeping the peace and deterring crime. It is certainly an intriguing concept; essentially removing the possibility of human malice, bias, and tragic mistake from the law enforcement equation. Alternatively, by removing these aspects, we would also need to remove the central facets of police discretion and human judgment. Therefore, while these robots essentially function as an extremely expensive "mall cop", their potential is obvious even to the most skeptical of critics. So, I think the question is this; does society want or need robot cops patrolling the streets?

The answer to this question is complicated. On the one hand, deploying robotic law enforcement officers would certainly be more economically efficient. Robots wouldn't be contractually entitled to pensions and livable salaries. And, as stated earlier, robots function without negative traits such as subjective bias (based on race, creed, sex, etc.), and they would not have that biological "fight or flight" instinct that kicks in for every person (officer or not) when they're facing danger, despite their professional obligations to upholding the law. Besides, if a robot gets destroyed in the process of enforcing the law or keeping the peace, the municipality can just send another one, and all it would cost is tax dollars instead of human lives.

On the other hand, we would be taking on additional risks by putting our collective safety under the care of street-patrolling robots. There are the ever-present possibilities of malfunction, tampering, and hacking to consider. There would also be the very real possibility of our society "transforming" (forgive the pun) into a cybernetic version of George Orwell's 1984, where all of our daily movements, conversations, and activities are either recorded or monitored by an all-seeing eye under the guise of "public safety". Obviously, these issues represent only the tip of the ice burg so to speak, but one can quickly see how a world policed by robots could go horribly wrong.

In a nutshell, I think that robots possess great potential for both the security and law enforcement professions/industries. But I also see the inherent dangers that come with trusting them with public safety. If deployed responsibly, robots could function as an incredible asset to the future of policing as a whole.

What do you think?

The author of this article is an active New York City Police Officer, currently serving the City in an investigative capacity.