![\"three](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/FLPD-robo-dog-e1777489519277.jpeg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPETA wants Fort Lauderdale police to start using robot dogs.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPETA wants Fort Lauderdale police to start using robot dogs.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
New Times artist conceptioon\/Photo of officers from Fort Lauderdale Police Department social media, photo of robot dog pasted on top from Kate Nevens on Flickr<\/p>\n
Fort Lauderdale Police Department K9 Appie wakes up in the hospital days after a shooting; his chief is sitting at the end of the bed, waiting to let the officer know he\u2019s being retired in favor of a new, line of robotic dog cops. <\/p>\n
No, this isn\u2019t a Disneyfied RoboCop remake. It\u2019s a real suggestion by PETA.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit, which advocates for animals used in all manner of industries, learned a shooter injured K9 Appie last week<\/a> and found it an opportune time to pitch Chief William Schultz an alternative. In a letter obtained by New Times, PETA encourages Schultz to replace K9s with robots and drones. The letter from special projects manager Allison Fandl reads in part, \u201cUnlike their human counterparts, K-9s do not sign up to risk their lives. They are loyal and protective, but they cannot consent to be used in violent encounters they did not cause or escalate. Veterinary\u00a0experts\u00a0and the\u00a0U.S. military\u00a0recognize that dogs like Appie, in addition to suffering the immediate physical pain and other effects of life-threatening injuries, can experience fear and anxiety from\u00a0post-traumatic stress\u00a0for the rest of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMany police and military units are\u00a0already\u00a0using\u00a0robot dogs<\/a>\u00a0and drones<\/a>\u2014including\u00a0in Miami<\/a>,\u201d PETA spokeswoman Sara Groves tells New Times. \u201cRobots and drones don\u2019t feel fear or pain when they\u2019re shot, stabbed, left in hot cars, or otherwise abused or neglected, unlike the K-9s who suffer and die in jobs they didn\u2019t choose to sign up for. Since these state-of-the-art technologies are already in use, it just makes sense for police departments to transition away from the cruel and outdated use of live dogs and toward modern policing tools.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up for the This Week\u2019s Top Stories newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n THANK YOU!<\/p>\n You’re all set.<\/p>\n CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Last year, at least 26 U.S. police K-9s were killed; causes of death include being left in a hot police car, being left in an outdoor kennel in hot weather with no shade, being shot by a police officer or suspect, and injuries from car crashes, according to PETA. At least 36 other K9s survived assaults and injuries. So far this year, PETA has found 23 reports of K9s who have been injured or killed.<\/p>\n \u201cPolice officers willingly take on the daily risks of their duties, but dogs like Appie don\u2019t get to choose,\u201d PETA\u00a0senior vice president Daphna Nachminovitch said in a statement. \u201cAppie suffered a violent attack and\u00a0PETA\u00a0is urging the Fort Lauderdale Police Department to retire him immediately and take the opportunity to reassess its use of dogs and forcing them into life-threatening situations.\u201d <\/p>\n Robot police dogs have actually been in use for years across the country, with Bloomberg reporting<\/a> that more than 60 bomb squads and SWAT teams in the U.S. and Canada use a Boston Dynamics version called Spot. The technology is controversial; the New York Police Department<\/a> briefly suspended its work with Spot after a major public backlash. Critics likened the dogs to Black Mirror and argued that they reflected the increased militarization of law enforcement, the New York Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a nonprofit dedicated to defending individual rights, in 2021 issued an opinion on their use<\/a>, arguing they could quickly become weaponized.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things that makes these robots so unnerving is that everybody implicitly understands that the possibility of weaponizing them will continue to hang out there like a tempting forbidden fruit for law enforcement,\u201d the ACLU said in its opinion. \u201cThere is also the fear that they could evolve from a remote-controlled tool to an autonomous decision-maker that makes actual law enforcement decisions of some kind. That would bring up the many issues around bias and inaccuracy in AI decision-making. The ultimate nightmare, of course, would be robots that are armed\u00a0and\u00a0made autonomous.\u201d<\/p>\n