There’s a shortage of cops in the United States, with some small towns closing their police stations as vacancies remained unfilled. The shortage is attributed to low pay, retirement and resignations.
Towns without a police force leave policing to the county sheriff or a neighboring town’s department, NBC News said. The same problem is not that serious in New York City, though.
Still, officers get booted out, but for a different reason.
In September, the New York Police Department formed a new force called K-5 to secure subways. The one-man army was equipped with cameras and a help button to guide commuters and tourists.
After five months of service, however, it was disbanded for inefficiency. Its short stint on the NYPD was reportedly marked by frequent breaks, the need to be chaperoned, and an inability to tackle stairs, Agence France-Presse reported.
Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the anti-spy-tech campaign group Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, cited another reason for the deactivation of the K-5.
“If we don’t have money to keep the library doors open, we definitely don’t have cash for creepy robots,” Cahn said, according to AFP.
The wheels of the robot cop were not even working, he added.
The controversial security robot has been retired to a storage lot, The New York Times reports.
WITH AFP