By Angela Sheu

Local Editor

On Dec. 6, San Francisco supervisors voted to halt the controversial policy that would have allowed police to kill suspects with robots. The San Francisco Police Department stated that police would deploy such robots with explosive charges to incapacitate dangerous suspects when lives are at stake. Supervisors initially approved the proposal with an 8-3 vote, despite objections from civil liberties and police oversight groups. Since its approval, the policy sparked further outcry from community members that the militarization of police endangers civil liberties. San Francisco officials now plan to refine or entirely scrap the original proposal.

(Sources: AP, BBC, San Francisco Chronicle)