NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The NYPD is reportedly getting rid of its robotic dog, which some deemed "creepy" and dystopian.
It was introduced earlier this year as a new tool that would help police tackle situations that were too dangerous for officers, according to the New York Times.
The department faced backlash when it was used as part of the response to a home invasion in the Bronx in February, with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez describing the machine as "robotic surveillance ground drones."
The technology raised privacy concerns and some feared it was helping to increase police militarization.
“It looks like the creepy half-organic and half-mechanized aliens in ‘War of the Worlds,’” one Twitter user said when the four-legged machine was spotted walking out of a Manhattan building along with several officers earlier this month.
Ocasio-Cortez had also said that the robotic technology is a waste of resources, noting that each “Digidog” produced by Boston Dynamics can cost upwards of $74,000.
The New York Times reports the lease on the robotic dog was terminated last week after City Council leaders subpoenaed the NYPD to see the contract with Boston Dynamics.
John Miller, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, told the Times the lease was originally set to end in August.