The Syracuse city council approved $250,000 for a new drone program for the Syracuse Police Department.
The money will allow the department to build a drone first response program, said Deputy Chief Richard Shoff.
Throughout the nation, police departments have adopted these first responder drones to send to potential crime scenes. Shoff and other police departments have said the drones can save manpower and provide officers with more information about potential crime scenes before they enter volatile situations.
As of Thursday, Shoff could not say how much each drone would cost or when the department wanted to start deploying them.
City officials did not respond to the following questions:
- How many drones will the department buy?
- How much will the drones cost?
- Who will the department purchase the drones from?
- When will the department purchase the drones?
- When will the department deploy the drones?
Shoff said his office is preparing a presentation detailing purchase figures, and could have more definitive answers later in the week.
The expenditure was included in the city’s Capital Improvement Program.
According to Shoff, the department’s main goal for the drones is to cut down response times, but the drones can also evaluate if officers should even be dispatched.
“The drone can go (to crime scenes) and determine if police were even needed,” Shoff said.
The chief provided an example of a department that receives a call about a man in a park with a gun – who turns out to be a man with a gun-shaped lighter, using it to light a cigarette. According to Shoff, a first responder drone could examine the scene and determine that there isn’t a present threat, which would prevent officers from entering a scene that they perceive to be dangerous.
While the department and council tout the potential for drones to save officers’ time and prevent unnecessary interactions, the use of first responder drones elsewhere has been controversial. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a 2023 report calling for police departments to limit their uses of first responder drones.
read more of central current’s coverage
Syracuse University lawyers ask appellate judge to restore tax exemption to student center
The city did not send an attorney to argue against Syracuse University’s ask for a panel of judges to reinstate the university’s full tax exemption and strike down a local court ruling that upheld the partially revoked exemption.
‘What I needed was here’: How Ruthnie Angrand became Onondaga County’s poet laureate
Angrand brings together a complex range of influences – from her Haitian-American identity to her background as a classically trained singer – in her spoken word poetry.
Sean Kirst: After 20 years, that ‘Building Men’ is still rolling becomes the whole life-changing point
To help young men in the Syracuse city schools embrace notions of true masculinity, Joe Horan started with himself.
Courts, advocates to start new program seeking to blunt Syracuse’s sharp eviction rate
In Syracuse, renters lose about 65% of their eviction cases, according to state court data.
Mayor Owens has ‘no immediate considerations’ to replace vacant community position on surveillance technology group
One of the city’s five community stakeholders has vacated his seat on the Surveillance Technology Working Group, but a city spokesperson said that Mayor Sharon Owens isn’t actively seeking a replacement.
