police drones

This week Yifei and Seth discuss Amazon’s BVLOS approval by the FAA, a big firmware update to the Avata 2, and more drone news.

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The Denver Police Department has long been drone-averse, having shelved the only UAV it occasionally operated way back in 2018. Now most underlying hesitations behind that decision have gone by the boards, with force reintroducing the craft in law enforcement activity amid significant budget cuts.

With Memorial Day marking the start of summer in many places, New York City Police officials got to work over the holiday weekend introducing drones that will keep watch over the beaches of coastal boroughs for the next four months.

The most recent in a long series of US government agency and legislative initiatives to squeeze DJI drones from the domestic market targets a critical user category in particular: lifesaving first responder organizations. Given the literally existential stakes that the bill poses, DJI has responded with a detailed arguments against its eventual passage into law.

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.

A landmark case on public access to video shot by law enforcement drones has taken a decisive turn, with the California Supreme Court’s denial of a Chula Vista Police Department motion seeking to keep its aerial footage confidential.

Specialized UAV public safety and emergency program consultancy Skyfire has announced the opening of its dedicated facility for drone first responder (DFR) training, covering a wide range of scenarios for existing and adopting operators.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is flagging constitutional concerns with police using drone technology to surveil public gatherings and the vital protections communities need to curb abuse. These questions come in light of the news that police departments have already used drones to monitor everything from large-scale public gatherings, such as parades and protests, to small, private gatherings like backyard barbeques.

The Alaska Supreme Court has struck down unregulated aerial surveillance of citizens’ homes with high-power zoom lenses. This ruling stems from a 2012 drug crime case where a man was arrested after officers flew over his property and took pictures of his marijuana plants without a search warrant. Here’s what happened…

San Francisco has pivoted from its habitual leftist civil liberties positioning to approve increased police powers for fighting crime, including uses of drone and formerly banned facial recognition tech.

Drone fleet management platform AirData says it is encouraging law enforcement transparency by making more public-facing features available to community-oriented police departments across the US. The company’s Public Portal program boosts public trust by improving accountability in drone use.

US drone maker Skydio says the Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) plans to use its new X10 drones to monitor spring break 2024 crowds. The MBPD has previously used Skydio drones during large-scale public events such as Art Week 2023 and New Year’s Eve to help protect event attendees and keep the community at large safe.

A 52-year-old man who shot down a high-end DJI drone belonging to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in Florida has been sentenced to four years in federal prison. Here’s the whole story…

Drone-based response and air-to-ground surveillance with thermal imaging are becoming increasingly important to police investigations. However, procuring an advanced drone model that can assist with public safety jobs can be quite an investment. This is why Teledyne FLIR has teamed up with PoliceGrantsHelp.com to help police agencies across the US secure grants for their drone programs.

Two additional U.S. police departments have been equipped with new drones for use in their law enforcement duties. And once again – despite proliferating government attempts at dissuasion – those forces adopted DJI craft as offering the best solutions available to their budgets, opting for pragmatism over politics.

The continuing evolution of rules and legal interpretations on official drone use in the US took another twist this week with the decision by a California appellate court rebuffing Chula Vista municipal police claims that all videos its UAVs capture on duty are “records of investigations,” and as such protected from public scrutiny.

Seattle-based UAV security and emergency situational awareness specialist BRINC has recruited another big US client to its LEMUR 2 drone offer, with the New York city of Schenectady voting Tuesday to approve a nearly $700,000 contract with the startup to introduce the craft as police department asset.

Police in New York City have added an another use case to their expanding deployment of drones: dissuading people from recurring rooftop “subway surfing” activity that has resulted in deaths and serious injuries this year.

When New York Mayor Eric Adams announced the liberalization of permitting rules for drone operation in the city last July, he predicted it would lead to a growth of aerial services improving residents’ daily lives. One application he didn’t mention is one many New Yorkers are least enamored with: UAV surveillance by the police, which has increased exponentially over the past year.

The slowly expanding use of drones by police forces in France for surveillance purposes continued its modest advance this week with the deployment of UAVs over the southwest city of Toulouse, where a neighborhood notorious for open-air drug dealing is now being monitored from on high.

The innovative producer of tactical UAVs designed specifically for police, fire, and other emergency responder operators, BRINC, has announced the first deliveries of its latest LEMUR 2 drones to US public safety clients, opening a new chapter in the already eventful history of the young startup.