GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids City Commission approved funding for a new drone program for the City's Police Department Tuesday night.
It's a program that has drawn controversy in the community for fears over privacy invasion.
"We have a really robust group of activists in the city, and we really want to make sure that they can continue to safely do what what they do and hold the government accountable," said Liz Balck, a policy strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. "You know, as well as religious organizations — making sure that their gatherings are protected, and you and I can sit in our backyard with our friends and family without feeling like there might be a drone coming overhead at any time."
But for months, Police Chief Eric Winstrom has set out with law enforcement partners to assure the community that the nearly $100,000 in new drones will only be used for certain operations, and not invasively.
The Department has said its drone fleet will be used in a multitude of scenarios:
- Certain large-scale events
- Mass shootings/mass casualty scenarios
- Natural disasters
- Water rescues
- Similar emergencies requiring thermal imaging
- Crash and crime scene reconstruction
But for purposes like facial recognition and unwarranted surveillance, Winstrom held to his message when he addressed commissioners on Tuesday morning.
"Facial recognition is something that's emerging, and it can be intimidating," Winstrom said. "Not only do we not intend to use it, we are prohibited from using it by our policy."
The draft policy from GRPD reads that it cannot use drones to, among other things, "purposely record or transmit images of any location where a person would have a reasonable expectation of privacy... absent a warrant or exigent circumstances."
The policy goes on to say that "Operators shall take reasonable precautions to avoid inadvertently recording or transmitting images of areas where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. Reasonable precautions may include, but are not limited to, deactivating imaging or turning away recording devices from such areas or persons during [drone] operations."
According to the draft, drone use in the department would also be prohibited for the following:
- For deployment of weapons
- For personal use
- To harass, intimidate or discriminate against any individual or group
- For the sole purpose of monitoring activities protected by the U.S. Constitution
- To conduct random surveillance activities
Additionally, Director Brandon Davis of the City's Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA) told commissioners on Tuesday that accountability reports will also be a part of the program.
"There's a quarterly report that is provided from [GRPD] to OPA, and those quarterly reports include the way the surveillance equipment was used," Davis said. "We're able to then audit that information and add that to an annual report—and the annual report is what's released publicly—that documents the full picture of how that technology is used."
"We also compare it to things like Fourth Amendment rights and other civil rights spaces to consider whether or not there's disparate impacts on how that technology is used," Davis went on to say. "So, the requirement from [GRPD] is to provide the information to us on a quarterly basis. The department's commitment has been to provide us with the information for each and every flight that is included."
The exceptions and accountability measures in the policy are things that Balck said she's glad to see, but that the nature of the program means GRPD will have to be mindful.
"This is something that we can continue to, as a community, hold the city and the department accountable for the way that they police," Balck said. "Our community, you know, ultimately, the community members, we consent to or don't consent to the way that we're policed."
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