(NewsNation) — The New York Police Department unveiled K5, a security robot that will be used to patrol the city’s streets by this summer.
NewsNation got a private look at the NYPD’s K5 along with other new and old technology Mayor Eric Adams says will be used for risky situations as well as ordinary surveillance.
The 400-pound, fully autonomous security robot will soon be patrolling Times Square and the subway system.
“The K5 uses artificial intelligence to provide real time incident notifications to first responders,” NYPD Chief Jeffery Maddrey said at a press conference.
There will be just one K5 robot in New York City when the pilot program begins this summer, but he won’t be alone. The “Digidog” will be rejoining the NYPD.
The city’s first robot police dog was leased in 2020 by Adams’ predecessor, former Mayor Bill de Blasio, but the city’s contract for the device was cut short after critics derided it as creepy and dystopian.
Adams said he won’t bow to anti-robot dog pressure.
“A few loud people were opposed to it and we took a step back,” the mayor said. “That is not how I operate. I operate on looking at what’s best for the city.”
The Digidog is a 70 pound remoted-controlled robot the NYPD plans to deploy, when needed, in highly dangerous situations such as terrorism, bomb threats and hostage standoffs, and can only be deployed at the direction of the chief of police
“When we send our officers in there. the danger that’s created for the officers and the suspect, you know… we can’t measure that,” Maddrey said. “But with a Digidog, it’s going to de-escalate, it’s going to give us additional time to work. And then we can make a better plan we can do a better assessment and get the right resources to help the person.”
Some critics of the technology raise concerns about its effectiveness.
“I just don’t think at a time when we’re cutting money for the public libraries. We’re cutting money for vital services that we need to be spending close to a million dollars on this sort of unproven tech,” said Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.
Similar technologies have been tested before in other cities. In San Francisco, a vote allowing police to use remote operated robots armed with lethal explosives was shut down.
Unlike other cities’ previous attempts, the Digidog will be unarmed and always have a partner, remotely controlled by trained Response Unit officers.
The Star Chase System is another high-tech tool introduced by the NYPD. It is a device that police officers can use to shoot GPS enabled trackers onto fleeing vehicles, allowing them to back-off on high speed chases and still track their suspect every step of the way.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
