RoboCop is the future of law enforcement...but is he actually legally allowed to be a cop? In 1987’s RoboCop, Detroit police officer Alex Murphy is brutally killed, rebuilt by OCP and sent back onto the streets as a heavily armed cyborg police officer. But if Murphy was legally declared dead, can OCP simply turn him back into a cop? Can a robot or AI be given police powers? And if RoboCop is just a machine, are any of his arrests actually legal?

Real defense attorney Doug Ridley and Billy Business break down the surprisingly complicated law behind RoboCop, including whether a corporation can fund and control a public police department, whether Directive 4 effectively puts OCP executives above the law, and how much police authority could ever be delegated to artificial intelligence. Then there’s RoboCop’s actual police work. When an armed robber unloads a shotgun into him, RoboCop responds by launching the guy through glass…and then just leaves without arresting him. Was the force justified? And does RoboCop have a legal duty to take the suspect into custody and get him medical attention? We also tackle OCP’s catastrophic ED-209 demonstration, where an employee is killed in a boardroom and everyone somehow just goes back to work, plus your fan questions about Murphy’s marriage, RoboCop testifying in court, who owns his recorded memories and whether RoboCop could ever retire. By the end, we finally answer the question: Is RoboCop legally a cop?

The Doug Defends Team:

Doug Ridley - Host, Defense Attorney at Ridley Defense

Billy Business - Co-Host, Producer, Editor

Linda Weg - Director of Operations

Music by www.purple-planet.com