City of Syracuse officials are asking residents for input on a controversial new police drone program, months after attempting to avoid a review process that could limit public feedback and limitations on the technology.
Residents can tell Syracuse officials their thoughts and concerns about the city’s proposed “drone as first response” program through Feb. 13.
First-response drones would be used in response to shots fired calls, search and rescue calls, burglaries and other “high-priority” calls, according to a city press release. City officials have said they do not plan to use the program proactively.
The city’s press release said that under this program, drones could also be dispatched to “incidents reported by officers in the field.”
In past public descriptions of the program, Deputy Chief Richard Shoff and Common Councilor Chol Majok, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, did not include “incidents reported by officers” among those that could trigger a drone launch. They focused on examples of residents calling 911.
Residents can give feedback about the drones at this link.
Drone as first responder programs have proliferated in the United States since the Chula Vista Police Department in California pioneered the program in 2018. Since then, drone manufacturers and police departments have touted Drone as First Response programs as a crucial tool reducing call response times and gathering information at turbulent crime scenes.
Advocates, though, fear these programs are ripe for expanded use and misuse, potentially constituting expansive encroachments to civilians’ reasonable expectations of privacy. They’ve drawn increased scrutiny as President Donald Trump has vowed an immigration crackdown.
The Syracuse Common Council voted in November to allot $250,000 to the department for the program, though some councilors believed they were voting for tethered, human-operated drones. First-response drones are launched autonomously and have been the subject of extensive concerns from civil liberty groups and surveillance technology watchdogs.
Reporting from Central Current then revealed that the City planned to bypass its own review process for the implementation of surveillance technology. A 2020 executive order issued in 2020 by Mayor Ben Walsh stipulated that the city conduct an expert review and an accompanying public comment period before implementing new surveillance technology.
The order also created the Surveillance Technology Working Group, a team of city representatives and community stakeholders with expertise in technology and civil rights.
Department officials initially attempted to argue that the department’s previous use of drones with lesser capabilities allowed it to bypass the review process because the “drone as first response” program was an extension of a pre-existing program. However, the department had failed to report its previous use of those drones to the working group.
Further reporting from Central Current revealed that the police department had already been operating drones outside the purview the Mayor established in 2020. The Syracuse Fire Department, which operates its own drone program, shared its drones with the police department.
The Police Department has not explained how and when it used those drones, and for what purpose. The department has not publicly offered an explanation as to why it circumvented established procedures and operated powerful surveillance technology without approval.
Although it promised in 2020 to create a public database documenting each and every police drone flight, no such database exists.
The police department has not offered a timeline for the creation of that database, nor an explanation for why it has not already been implemented.
At the time of the city’s reversal in December, working group member and Syracuse University professor Johannes Himmelreich approved of the drone program undergoing the city’s surveillance technology review process.
“All communities need to innovate responsibly. The review will give everyone a say,” Himmelreich said. “I would not want such drones to fly under the radar of public input.”
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