Adams Expands NYPD Use Of Police Drones

CENTRAL PARK, NY – Mayor Eric Adams and Interim Police Commissioner Tom Donlon announced the launch of the NYPD’s “Drone as First Responder” (DFR) program on Wednesday, a move aimed at reducing emergency response times and improving public safety across New York City, officials said.

The DFR program deploys drones at five NYPD precincts: Central Park Precinct in Manhattan; Brooklyn’s 67th, 71st, and 75th Precincts (East Flatbush, Crown Heights, and East New York); and the Bronx’s 48th Precinct (Belmont).

How Will It Work?

The drones will fly, 24/7, to “the exact longitude and latitude of select priority public safety calls, including searches for missing people, alerts from the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system, incidents of robberies and grand larcenies, and other crimes in progress as needed,” according to a press release.

Every flight is commanded and monitored by an NYPD officer certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), officials said. Pilots will be stationed at the Joint Operations Center at police headquarters in Lower Manhattan or at one of the NYPD’s off-site Technical Assistance and Response Unit (TARU) stations.

The drones are remotely controlled on a computer screen, and will capture and relay live audio and video feeds directly to officers’ smartphones, which will offer critical, immediate insights to on-the-ground teams before they arrive on scene, officials say.

Additionally, each DFR mission will be monitored – in real time – by a member of the NYPD’s Legal Bureau. Drone footage is retained for 30 days unless required for investigations or evidence.

What About 'Unacceptable Uses'?

Years ago, when the NYPD began its drone program in late 2018, the agency previously indicated that there were a few things that the drones would not do.

These “unacceptable uses” once included:

• Routine Patrol
• Traffic Enforcement
• Immobilizing Vehicles or Suspects
• [Being] Used as a Weapon or [Being] Equipped with a Weapon
• Search Without a Warrant

Are these uses still unacceptable today? Or has policy shifted? Neither the NYPD nor the Mayor’s Office had provided an answer to Patch’s inquiry by press time.

This information was absent from a press release covering the new program, and apparently no city press in attendance at a press conference on Wednesday thought to ask this very simple question during Q&A – although reporters did ask about interactions between drones and birds, as well as drone battery life.

Toward the end of the presser, Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry emphasized that "there's no AI in these drones."

'Just Taking Off'

“New York City is flying into the future as we keep New Yorkers safe,” Adams said, in a statement. “While the ‘Drone as First Responder’ program is what precision policing in the 21st century looks like, drone potential is really just taking off. These drones will mean more efficient policing and will help increase the safety of our responding NYPD officers and New Yorkers.”

DFR is a piece of the NYPD’s broader effort to incorporate new technology into policing. The agency, which now operates more than 100 drones, plans to continue deploying this technology to improve emergency response efficiency citywide.

“You’re going to see this technology expanding throughout the city,” Adams said on Wednesday.

The department’s drone operations, which, as mentioned, began in 2018, have since expanded to over 4,000 missions in the past year.

Video of Wednesday's press conference is below.