Robots are often used by emergency services to ensure the safety of first responders. On November 29, 2022, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to allow the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to deploy robots equipped with lethal weapons in extraordinary circumstances. Supporters argue that technology able to help end violence and save lives should be used, while the opposition suggests that lowering consequences of aggressive policing could increase the likelihood of police violence. Does the benefit of potential lives saved override the ethical concerns accompanying use of lethal robots?

Protests erupted in the summer of 2020 over the killings of two African-Americans at the hands of the police. This led to a national call to "defund the police." This desire to "defund the police" has those in favor split into two groups: those who want to abolish policing, and those who want to take money from the police and put it into other community initiatives. There are still many Americans who do not want the police abolished or defunded, citing worries about safety and a lack of an alternative.

In 2018, authorities discovered the identity of the Golden State Killer by running crime scene DNA evidence against an online genealogy database that is ordinarily used to connect people to long-lost relatives. Few people find the fact that the perpetrator has been arrested on the basis of DNA evidence to be problematic. However, some find the methods of obtaining this evidence to be problematic. To what extent do companies that collect private data about their users have a responsibility to protect that data from being used in ways that their users would not consent to?

Given that police violence disproportionately affects Black people, should police departments take away many of their guns? Do the good effects of disarming police outweigh the bad?