”Killer Robots!” w/ Will Jarrett

As stories go, it was pure, uncut catnip to news media around the world: San Francisco, that bastion of liberal values, was giving police the go-ahead to use KILLER ROBOTS on its enlightened middle-class citizenry of young moms, tech bros, recent immigrants, and people who like to drink coffee on steep hills.

There was hand-wringing on the left and hand-wringing about the left on the right. The majority of stories we saw were about as deep and nuanced as a 1950s sci-fi movie. "Robots! The chrome menace strikes!"

But: What about the rest of the military-grade weapons the police have access to? What about the law that made the whole story public in the first place? What about local journalism?

To dig into these issues, we turned to Will Jarrett, a data reporter for SF nonprofit news outlet Mission Local. Will reported on the Killer Robot Thing when it was only a twinkle in a policy draft, through the blow-by-blow of the Board of Supervisors vote, on up to when it all petered out (for now!), as supervisors balked at the public uproar.

It's a great conversation: We talk about public interest vs. officer safety, transparency laws, the difference between a robot and a drone, and whether the whole circus was, in fact, a success for democracy.

Curl up with your loved ones by the fire and listen to a story about how the true meaning of the holidays may well be ... The Chrome Menace!

Comments? Story ideas? Want to say hi? Email us at [email protected]. 

NOTES

Check out all the SFPD's loot! // What's this big police noisemaker? // Some examples of basically identical coverage in The Guardian, FOX NEWS, NY Post // TechCrunch goes down the robot hole