As soon as ten years later, robots may start competing with human police. According to TASS, smart machines may be employed by police as immigration and even traffic officers.
Currently, anthropomorphic robots are produced in Russia by Promobot (Perm), Hypothetically, the company could supply its fourth-generation machines to police. Promobot suggests that its robots may replace police officers in operations involving large numbers of people, in order to expedite and simplify routine activities. For example, robots could optimize fingerprinting, including in airports.
Formally, a robot employee would cost the state budget significantly cheaper than a human officer. The Interior Ministry’s Administration Academy estimates that one machine costing RUR 750K ($11.7K) may pay off in about two years while the state spends RUR 1 mio ($15.6K) on one police officer. At the same time, replacing police with robots may still not happen due to legal obstacles. By law, robots are not authorized to engage in procedural action.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev encouraged Russians to prepare for competing with robots for jobs. He also said that currently the total number of robotic devices on the planet is around 2.5 mio.