September 1st 2023.
This Labor Day weekend, New York City will be looking up to the sky for something new: drones. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has announced that they will be using drones to monitor events and gatherings, including private ones and J'ouvert, the Caribbean carnival celebrating the end of slavery.
At a press conference, Assistant NYPD Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said the drones are being used to respond to both priority and non-priority calls. He said, "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.”
New York City is not alone in its use of drones. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, close to 1,400 police departments across the country are using drones. Federal regulations limit the drones to flying within the operator’s line of sight, but there are some exceptions.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams is in favor of using drones, while privacy advocates like the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project’s Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn have expressed concerns. Cahn said, "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. Clearly, flying a drone over a backyard barbecue is a step too far for many New Yorkers.”
Daughtry mentioned an example of the positive effect the drones had in June when they safely cleared out thousands of parade-goers from Manhattan’s Washington Square Park after the Gay Pride parade.
The surveillance will take place between August 31 and the Labor Day holiday. The drones will be able to broadcast computer-generated voice messages or live messages from an identified NYPD commander.
It's clear that NYPD is taking the surveillance of public events and gatherings seriously this Labor Day weekend.
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