Last month, the LA City Council approved a donation from the Los Angeles Police Foundation for a nearly $280,000 robot dog that will be used by the city’s police department.

What You Need To Know

  • SPOT, a mobile robot designed by Boston Dynamics, is roughly the size of a dalmatian and comes with 360 degree cameras

  • Officers can operate him with a tablet-like device, which some argue can allow the robots to keep human police out of harm’s way

  • It’s been used in places like Houston, Manhattan and Oakland, but La residents were concerned over how the dog could be used by the LAPD

  • Council member Hugo-Soto Martinez, who ran on a progressive platform in 2022 and talked about reducing the size of the LAPD, voted yes on Mayor Karen Bass’ budget that will expand the police department

SPOT, a mobile robot designed by Boston Dynamics, is roughly the size of a dalmatian and comes with 360 degree cameras. Officers can operate him with a tablet-like device, which some argue can allow the computerized canines to keep human police out of harm’s way. 

It’s been used in places like Houston, Manhattan and Oakland, but Los Angeles residents were concerned over how the dog could be used by the LAPD. 

Despite backlash from the public, the Council accepted the donation. There were, however, four dissenting votes, one of them belonging to Council member Hugo-Soto Martinez, who represents Council District 13.

He spoke with Alex Cohen about his concerns, one of them being the fiscal responsibility of the city for the robot dog.Though SPOT is a gift now, Soto-Martinez argues it could cost the city something in the future.

“We know that this is very common. Often, we are given gifts here in the city of Los Angeles, but in the future they become a line item in the budget,” he said. “Considering the dystopian nature of this robot dog and the precedent it set, I thought it was bad for the city of Los Angeles.” 

Soto-Martinez was elected to the Council in Nov. 2022 when he beat incumbent Council member Mitch O’Farrell. He ran on a progressive platform and talked about reducing the size of the LAPD. He even proposed replacing each officer who leaves the department with mental health professionals or other unarmed workers. And yet, the Council member voted yes on Mayor Karen Bass’ budget that will expand the police department. 

He says though the budget did not represent all of his values, he looks at the situation from his background as a union organizer. 

“Sometimes you win that first contract and that contract doesn’t have everything you want, but you build and keep fighting," he said.

Soto-Martinez pointed to the things in the budget he does support, like the $1.3 billion allocated in the budget to fight homelessness, with 250 million for the Mayor’s Inside Safe program alone.

“What we won this year around compared to previous years is unprecedented," he said. “If you look at this in perspective, this is the most progressive budget I’ve seen in my lifetime. I think it gives us a lot to build on and the future looks very bright for progressive politics in the city.”

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