Ethical Issues in Police Robots. The Case of Crowd Control Robots in a Pandemic

Abstract

Abstract Progress in automatization and robotization is unavoidable. However, while progress in some fields is relatively rapid, others including policing seem to be untouched by automatization. This article discusses arguments which favor the use of police robots, in particular crowd control robots. The special case of pandemics is discussed. The article argues that while we have some ethical issues associated with crowd control robots, in general, the benefits are higher than the possible risks.