Police will soon utilize drones to inspect crime scenes, according to NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, who claimed the idea was sparked by technology Mayor Eric Adams observed when touring Israel’s National Police Academy last week.
According to the New York Post, the NYPD has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the aerial devices this year and has used them more frequently during Adams’ first 15 months in office than during the final 15 months of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s term.
The police force has increased the use of ShotSpotter, a contentious device that uses a network of microphones deployed around the city to detect and report gunshots. Chell suggested that the NYPD may respond to ShotSpotter alarms using drones.
“We can get the drones there quicker than a police car,” Chell said during an interview on WPIX. “They could spot out what the situation is from overhead and give us a heads up as to what we’re looking at.”
“[Drones are] definitely another piece of technology we could use to make this city safer,” Chell said, adding that drones could be used “for sharks on the beach” or to investigate a building collapse.
Since his election, Mayor Adams has made it simpler for companies to get drone operator licenses by easing limitations on their use in the city. However, critics have expressed concern that the growing use of police drones, which are equipped with cameras and night vision, endangers people’s civil freedoms and may be used to monitor demonstrators.
