Wichita City Council delays funding vote for $650,000 robotic dogs

After more than an hour of discussion Tuesday, the Wichita City Council delayed approving $650,000 in funding for two robotic dogs for the Wichita Police Department.

The council will discuss the funding again April 7 after a March 24 workshop meeting on police technology.

“I think it will garner more support for this initiative and for other initiatives that you have in the [Capital Improvement Program] for technology needs,” council member Becky Tuttle, who made the motion to delay, said.

If funding is later approved, the robots would be used for the department’s SWAT team and bomb squad.

The robots, also known as Spot, were created by Boston Dynamics originally for use in manufacturing sites. They have since begun to be used by police departments to resolve hostage situations.

So far, no other police department in Kansas has access to the robots.

Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said the robots are needed so that police officers are able to safely respond to emergencies without putting their lives directly on the line.

“The reason that we’re asking for these is because that will enable us to make sure that everyone goes home,” Sullivan said.

The Wichita Police Department’s last line-of-duty death, unrelated to COVID-19, came from an explosion at the city’s bomb range in 2000.

Activist Faith Martin said the police department should create policy on the robots’ use before they are bought.

“We have more and more surveillance,” Martin said. “We have more and more Flock cameras, more and more listening devices. Now we have drones. We have risk terrain modeling and robots with cameras on them and I don’t hear a single one of you talk about how we’re going to protect citizen rights through this.”

Resident Julia Falke, who said she was once in a neighborhood that had to shelter during police negotiations, spoke in favor of the robots.

“I want my police to be equipped with what it takes to try to de-escalate a situation as quickly as they can,” she said, “and I don’t want to ever be sitting in my house for four hours waiting to see what’s happening with drones flying and officers lining the streets.”