NYPD Mulls Using Microphone-Equipped Drones

Do you ever get that creepy feeling like you’re
being watched in public? That your conversations are being bugged
and transmitted to the shadowy headquarters of an organization just
looking for ways it can catch you? Well, good news: The New York
City Police Department (NYPD) is thinking about justifying your
paranoia.

At a city council meeting on Tuesday the boys in blue discussed
the possibility of buying some drones. The New York
Daily News
reports:

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said the unmanned machines
equipped with cameras and tiny microphones could help spy on crime
hotspots—like housing projects, where shootings are up about 32%
this year.

“Myself, I’m supportive of the concept of drones, not only for
police but for public safety in general,” Bratton said Tuesday.
“It’s something that we actively keep looking at and stay aware
of.”

Bratton, speaking in front of the City Council’s Public Safety
Committee, said the drones could also help the FDNY more quickly
determine the extent of a fire.

John Miller, the NYPD’s head of intelligence, said cops have
been studying flying drones. They’re looking at “what’s on the
market, what’s available.”

The NYPD doesn’t have plans in motion yet, but there’s good
reason to be concerned about adding another piece of technology to
any police department’s arsenal. Other surveillance enablers, like
GPS trackers, have been used around the country to trample on
people’s
reasonable expectations of privacy and, in the case of license
plate readers, have put
innocent lives at risk when has equipment
malfunctioned. 

Regarding drones in particular, the Electronic Frontier
Foundation has warned that
“privacy law has not kept up with the rapid pace of drone
technology, and police may believe they can use drones to spy on
citizens with no warrant or legal process whatsoever.” The American
Civil Liberties Union adds that
agencies should be restricted from indefinitely holding data
gathered by drones.

Even if you buy into the awful argument that you’ve got nothing
to worry about if you’ve got nothing to hide, is the NYPD really an
organization that should be trusted with constantly recording
people’s movements and conversations? The department known for

infiltrating political dissident groups,
smashing kids through storefront windows,
drunkenly shooting people, and even
flouting international law?

Watch Reason TV’s coverage of
police drones and the privacy concerns they raise: