NYC Expands Use Of Drones To Respond To Crimes, Other Emergencies

The New York Police Department has launched a new program that will send drones zipping to emergency scenes before officers can get there.

Two drones will be stationed at each of five NYPD station houses, including the one that oversees the 843 acres of Manhattan's iconic Central Park. Three precincts in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx will also be getting the drones as part of the "Drone as First Responder" initiative.

"New York City is flying into the future as we keep New Yorkers safe," Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement Wednesday. "These drones will mean more efficient policing and will help increase the safety of our responding NYPD officers and New Yorkers."

The drones will be deployed remotely and programmed to autonomously fly to the exact longitude and latitude of emergencies, including missing-person searches, alerts from the NYPD's ShotSpotter gunfire detection system and crimes in progress, according to the mayor's office.

Once a drone arrives at the scene, an NYPD drone pilot at police headquarters in Lower Manhattan or another location will take control of the device. High-resolution cameras equipped with night vision technology and high-definition audio microphones will allow pilots to assess situations and send live feeds to the smartphones of officers and supervisors on the ground.

The new program marks the latest expansion of the NYPD's use of drones, which has drawn criticism from advocates of civil liberties and privacy rights since it began in late 2018.

"These drones would be disturbing enough on their own, but pairing them with a discredited vendor like ShotSpotter is even worse," Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the non-profit Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, told the Guardian.

"Recent reviews have found that the vast majority of ShotSpotter alerts are wild goose chases, sending the NYPD to the scenes of crimes that never happened. Sending robots chasing after phantom gunshots that are actually fireworks and car backfires is a privacy nightmare."

In a prepared statement, Fremont, California-based SoundThinking Inc., which makes the ShotSpotter, said: "ShotSpotter's accuracy is proven."

"Our contracts include a 90% guarantee for detecting, locating, and publishing outdoor gunfire incidents, with financial penalties for underperformance, and an independent review conducted by data analytics firm Edgeworth found that ShotSpotter's accuracy rate exceeds 97% across all customers. This is why more than 180 cities rely on ShotSpotter for public safety," the company said.