NYPD reboots cyborg police dog after backlash and, again, civil rights advocates warn against high-tech hound

NEW YORK — Digidog, the NYPD robot pooch, is back and department leaders promise it’s not the dystopian surveillance nightmare it was made out to be the first time New Yorkers got a look at it.

Two years after the $74,000 robot canine program landed the NYPD in the doghouse with civil rights advocates, Digidog, also known as Spot, got a new leash on life Tuesday as the city announced it was bringing it back.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell noted the NYPD’s long history with technology — the first police force to put in place a 911 call system and among the first to use fingerprints and mugshots — said New Yorkers will be kept abreast of how the cyber mutt and two other tech tools that are part of pilot programs will be used.