The NYPD is going to be all over backyard parties this Labor Day weekend, reportedly using police surveillance drones to monitor large gatherings at barbecues and other events.
Police plan to use the unmanned aircraft “in response to complaints about large gatherings, including private events, over Labor Day weekend,” the Associated Press reported, citing police officials.
“If a caller states there’s a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, we’re going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party,” Kaz Daughtry, the assistant NYPD Commissioner, said during a press conference.
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Drones to monitor Labor Day gatherings.NYC:
“If a caller states there’s a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, we’re going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party,”
– NYPD Commissioner Kaz Daughtry pic.twitter.com/n5dGzGpUuK— ZZZ (@AskMeLaterOn) September 1, 2023
Civil liberties advocates were less than thrilled about the use of drones and the possible violation of existing laws on police surveillance
“It’s a troubling announcement and it flies in the face of the POST Act,” said Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Deploying drones in this way is a sci-fi-inspired scenario.”
The POST Act is a 2020 city law that requires the NYPD to disclose its surveillance tactics, according to the AP.
Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), expressed concern about intrusive surveillance that could be illegal, arguing that regulations have not kept up with technology.
“One of the biggest concerns with the rush to roll out new forms of aerial surveillance is how few protections we have against seeing these cameras aimed at our backyards or even our bedrooms,” Cahn told AP.
Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain, has touted the “endless” potential of drones being used in law enforcement and AP reported that the city “is increasingly relying on drones for policing purposes. Data maintained by the city shows the police department has used drones for public safety or emergency purposes 124 times this year, up from just four times in all of 2022.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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