NYPD plans 911 response UAVs to its increasing drone deployment

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has taken full advantage the city’s announcement last summer to permit increased used of drones by official and enterprise operators, and is now planning to expand that UAV activity even more.

NYPD officials said this week that following Mayor Eric Adams’ announcement last July to liberalize permitting rules for drone flights in the city, the department’s deployment of the craft has increased by nearly 500% compared to the previous year. In addition to the diverse public safety scenarios those have occurred in thus far, authorities now say a series of rooftop UAV ports will be created to permit rapid response to 911 calls.

“These drones are a game changer… (and) have used this drone, these drones over 480% more than last year,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Operations, Kaz Daughtry told WNYW TV. “Drones are deployed every day.”

While increased public service and enterprise operation designed to improve residents’ lives was a main objective in Adams’ decision to ease formerly draconian restrictions on drone use, the former police officer has also clearly encouraged NYPD’s considerably expanded deployment of the craft.

Now plans are afoot to establish a network of rooftop facilities to allow at-the-ready NYPD drones to respond unfolding emergencies. According to New York city media The Gothamist, that will involve department UAVs responding to “select 911 calls in five New York City police precincts — including Central Park.” 

While details about all locations and the types of situations the craft would be used for are unknown, the paper noted drone port positions  will include “three in Brooklyn, one in the Bronx, and one in Central Park.”

But if the NYPD is intrepid in its expansion of drone deployment, it appears to be wilting in the face of organized hectoring by national politicians, including the state’s far-right House of Representatives legislator Elise Stefanik, who is leading a drive to all but outlaw DJI craft in the US.

In testimony to Congress on Thursday about the use of drones in emergency response, Daughtry came under fire about DJI UAVs in the NYPD’s fleet of nearly 90 craft. He eventually conceded the force will move to gradually phase out use of DJI tech, clearly a response to the blacklisting campaign by national and state politicians. 

But in noting that significant procurement shift by away from DJI drones by the NYPD, Daughtry also informed lawmakers about the hard realities of the US sector – as well as and the bind public services find themselves in when politicians wade into public safety work as shills for US UAV lobbies.

“They have capabilities that locals can’t offer on that cost-by-cost basis, and we’re talking about a weapon or a tool that our frontliners need to protect our lives,” Daughtry told Congressional committee members questioning the NYPD’s preference for DJI drones. 

Challenged about how DJI could possibly have such a performance and price advantage over US options, Daughtry told committee members he’d personally informed CEOs of American companies that DJI craft “perform better than your drones.”