Seattle To Build Its (Unused) Drone Fleet, Rescinds Usage Guidelines
More toys, no rules
The Seattle Police Department plans to expand its drone program over the next year with the purchase of two additional units, documents released to MuckRock indicate. The additional drones would cost SPD at least $150,000. But beyond conducting limited training exercises, SPD has never deployed the two drones it purchased in 2010 for $82,000. Furthermore, SPD has no clear policy outlining how drones can be deployed in the field.
Following public concern over the revelation that it purchased two surveillance drones in 2010, the Seattle Police Department has assured the public that it will deploy its Draganfly X6 units solely for training and evaluation "until appropriate policies for use are developed and approved." However, SPD rescinded its policy on deploying unmanned aerial systems (UASs) after less than a month on the books, without drafting any replacement guidelines.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?