RoboDog supplies muscle to New York City’s high-tech policing

A robotic canine, weighing 70 kilos (32 kg), was among the many many three new high-tech policing devices unveiled by New York City officers. These devices may very well be inducted into the New York Police Department.

The remote-controlled Digidog may very well be deployed in emergency situations akin to hostage standoffs beginning this summer season. (Photo: AP video seize)

By India Today World Desk: New York City officers on Tuesday made public three new high-tech policing devices, along with a robotic canine, a GPS tracker for stolen automobiles and a cone-shaped security robotic.

The new devices have a GPS tracker for stolen automobiles and a cone-shaped security robotic. They shall be rolled out in a technique that’s “transparent, consistent and always done in close collaboration with the people we serve,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell was quoted as saying by a report by The Associated Press (AP).

The Commissioner was accompanied by Mayor Eric Adams and totally different officers at Times Square, the place the security robotic and a 70-pound (32 kg) mechanical canine known as ‘Digidog’ had been unveiled.

“Digidog is out of the pound. Digidog is now part of the toolkit that we are using,” talked about Adams, a Democrat and former police officer.

Adams’ predecessor, Bill de Blasio, had leased New York City’s first robotic police canine in 2020 nevertheless the contract was decrease transient following pressure from critics who described it as “creepy and dystopian”, the AP report talked about.

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Asserting that he will not bow to pressure from opponents, Adams talked about, “A few loud people were opposed to it and we took a step back. That is not how I operate. I operate on looking at what’s best for the city.”

The remote-controlled Digidog may very well be deployed in emergency situations akin to hostage standoffs beginning this summer season, Adams talked about.

“If you have a barricaded suspect, if you have someone that’s inside a building that is armed, instead of sending police in there, you send Digidog in there. So these are smart ways of using good technologies,” he acknowledged.

The New York Police Department will pilot the monitoring system named StarChase which will allow cops to hint the location of a stolen automotive with a GPS tag hooked as much as it. The pilot programme for this methodology will end in 90 days, consistent with officers.

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Police officers talked about it’ll deploy the Autonomous Security Robot inside Times Square subway station in a seven-month pilot programme beginning this summer season.

The machine may very well be first be joined by a human affiliate, police talked about, the AP report talked about.

Critics slammed the selection to roll out the mechanical canine and totally different high-tech monitoring devices.

“This latest announcement is just the most recent example of how Mayor Adams allows unmitigated overspending of the NYPD’s massively bloated budget,” talked about Ileana Mendez-Penate, programme director of Communities United for Police Reform.

“The NYPD is buying robot dogs and other fancy tech, while New Yorkers can’t access food stamps because city agencies are short-staffed, and New Yorkers are getting evicted because they can’t access their right to counsel,” Mendez-Penate added.

Albert Fox Cahn, authorities director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, talked about, “The NYPD is turning bad science fiction into terrible policing. New York deserves real safety, not a knockoff RoboCop.”

Edited By:

Prateek Chakraborty

Published On:

Apr 12, 2023