More Police Drones Coming To Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH, NH — Over the next several, Portsmouth police will be implementing drones for anything from searches for suspects, to crowd control at big events. This is due to a Homeland Security grant the Police Department received from the federal agency. Portsmouth police are looking to purchase several drones with the grant, and train as many officers as possible to use them.

"It's the future of law enforcement," said Portsmouth Police Lt. Chris Cummings. "We put an eye in the sky where we normally wouldn't have one." Cummings spoke about the drone program at Tuesday's Police Commission meeting, where commissioners got to see the drones first-hand. So far, one Portsmouth police officer has received a pilot's license to operate the unmanned aircraft, and two more will join him in getting certified next month, he said.

Cummings said the drones will save a lot of man labor hours when it comes to photographing and mapping crime scenes. Another potential use for the drones is by the Fire Department to identify gas leaks.

"We don't know exactly what we're going to want until we get it," said Cummings.

Police Commissioner Joe Onosko said the new drone program does not mean that the unmanned aircraft will be present at every large city event, such as the annual Portsmouth Pride Parade or Market Square Day. The drones will fly when there's a public safety concern or question, he said.

According to Cummings, drones will be useful for events such as presidential candidate visits, when Portsmouth police work with U.S. Secret Service to plan out surveillance locations for police officers, such as rooftops. With drones, the Police Department will simply be able to post a drone onto a rooftop for surveillance.

"Instead of putting officers in certain places, we could fly a drone and cover a much larger area," said Cummings.

For any personal information the drones may collect accidentally during data gathering, Portsmouth has developed procedures where this information will be destroyed after 180 days unless it is needed for an official mission, said Cummings.

As part of the drone grant, Homeland Security requires Portsmouth police to practice transparency, protections of privacy, accountability, civil rights and liberties protections and reporting. Cummings said that Portsmouth police will post a "sUAS Usage Chart" on their website, listing every drone use along with a date and where and why a drone was used.

After learning about the program, Onosko said, "I am impressed."

The Police Commission discussed the drones at Tuesday morning's meeting with no members of the public in attendance, though a member of the media was present.