Drones over residents’ gardens. This may be the new means of surveillance during Labor Day on September 4 in New York, as announced by the city’s deputy commissioner, reports the American site The edge.
During a press conference on August 30, New York Police Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry clarified: “If a call indicates that there is a crowd, a large garden party, we will use our resources to go and see if this It really is so.”
The announcement sparked an immediate backlash from libertarians, who questioned whether the provision violated policing laws.
watch over the city
In fact, for some, this initiative is illegal. New York City’s POST law requires police to post a 90-day notice of any new decision that changes their surveillance techniques. But nothing has been revealed regarding the use of drones in this event.
In the city, drones can only be used in the context of, for example, search and rescue operations, hazmat incidents or even as visual assistance in support of police work.
The police also clarified in 2021 that the drones would not be used “unless NYPD personnel first obtain a search warrant explicitly authorizing the use.”
“Explosion of the use of drones”
In the Labor Day situation, the police may be exploiting a loophole in the POST law where the police may decide that this new tool is an “enhancement” of an existing technology policy.
New York City police departments used drones for emergency or public safety purposes 124 times in 2023, up from just four times the year before. For its part, the American Civil Liberties Union recently warned of “an explosion in the use of drones by law enforcement.”
The New York police have been developing a strategy that relies heavily on new technologies for several months. Last May, it reintroduced robot dogs, called Digidogs, developed by Boston Dynamics, to the streets to carry out inspections and reconnaissance in dangerous areas.
Source: BFM TV
