Boston Dynamics Spot robot B69. Credit: Boston Dynamics
The Tampa Police Department is hoping to trade one K9 for another with a request this week to donate a German Shepherd named “Odus” to the Newton County Sheriff’s Office in Newton County, Missouri while requesting $213,257.14 for the “unmanned robot dog” Spot.
Spot is the name for the German Shepherd-sized Boston Dynamics “agile mobile robot”. The addition of robot dogs is not new to police departments. St. Petersburg police added one in 2022; Miami-Dade added one in 2024.
A web search for successful uses of the robot dog were dominated by a 2023 story of the St. Petersburg police using Spot to “keep an eye on” a suspect barricaded in his vehicle with his child. “It allowed us to get a video feedback to make these decisions” Assistant Chief Mike Kovacsev told reporters. There are other documented uses and concerns. The base Spot Model is $98,955.10 and TPD is adding a $67,346.94 front-mounted manipulation arm and a $43,204.08 thermal inspection camera. St. Petersburg police purchased its robot dog with a private donation.
In addition to the dog swap, TPD is requesting council approval of $1,766,884 to replace 1,300 service weapons. The one-year contract can be renewed at the same terms and conditions for four additional one-year terms, pending appropriations.
TPD are looking to switch from the controversial Sig Sauer P320s to Glock 45 9mm pistols. Sig Sauer has maintained the firearms are safe but did a voluntary upgrade in 2017 after concerns were raised the gun could discharge when dropped from heights above industry standard. However the weapon can’t shake being in the news. Concerns were raised again after a Michigan State Police officer reported an “uncommanded discharge” of his weapon. A subsequent FBI report did little to quell concerns.
As Sig Sauer has denied any issues, this year the company spent $550,000 lobbying Tallahassee to shield them from liability. Their effort made it through the Florida House however the Senate failed to take up the bill prior to the end of session.
The supplier of the Glock 45 9mm weapons, Lou’s Police Distributors, Inc., offered TPD $1 per Sig Sauer P320 for trade-in. TPD declined.
This post first appeared on The Tampa Monitor and is used under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Tampa Monitor is also part of the Tampa Bay Journalism Project TBJP, a nascent Creative Loafing Tampa Bay effort supported by grants and a coalition of donors who make specific contributions via the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation. If you are a non-paywalled Bay area publication interested in TBJP, please email rroa@ctampa.com. Support The Tampa Monitor by making a donation or buying Michael Bishop a coffee.
This article appears in Mar. 19 – 25, 2026.
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