NYPD Unleashes Robots to Battle Crime

The New York City Police Department will use robots to battle crime.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, and Chief Jeffrey Maddrey announced the plan featuring two distinct types of robots, and a GPS tracking system, in Times Square on Tuesday.

“In every era, we have maximized public and officer safety through emerging technology and that approach continues today,” Commissioner Sewell said at a press conference. “Today we are announcing three new policing technologies in New York City.”

The first robot is the Knightscope K5, developed to monitor outside spaces for people in restricted areas like parks, office buildings, sidewalks, and high-traffic areas, according to the company.

The device can operate in the New York climate during the winter and Florida during the heat of summer and has the capability to recharge itself without human intervention, the company’s website said.

The company was launched in 2013 in response to the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the Boston Marathon bombings, and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., the company said.

The egg-shaped units are about 300 pounds, have a 360-degree camera for video recording and streaming, person detection in restricted areas, a “thermal anomaly” detector, and a license-plate reader.

Sewell said the GPS tracking system allows for monitoring travel through a device placed on a suspect vehicle, and the K5 robots will be “a pilot” program and will be used with “transparency.”

“We want the public to know that the use of these technologies will be transparent, consistent, and always with the collaboration of the people that we serve,” she said. “And as with every NYPD initiative, we will continuously evaluate their use and impact on our city.”

The second robot to be deployed, known as the Boston Dynamics “Digi-Dog,” will be used in cases where it would be too dangerous to send a human officer, such as hostage situations and dealing with potentially lethal bomb threats.

“The three we are looking at today is only the beginning,” Adams said. “We are scanning the globe on finding technologies that would ensure this city is safe for New Yorkers, visitors, and whomever is here in this city.”

Adams said this is the first of more rollouts to come that show how public safety is “transforming itself.”

Chief Maddrey said the lone K5 unit will be deployed sometime over the summer and is currently being leased until its use is evaluated.

The unit will be accompanied by a human partner for at least the first month of deployment, Maddrey said.