APNews
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The New York City police department plans to pilot the unmanned aircrafts in response to complaints about large gatherings, including private events, over Labor Day weekend, officials announced Thursday.
The plan drew immediate backlash from privacy and civil liberties advocates, raising questions about whether such drone use violated existing laws for police surveillance
“It’s a troubling announcement and it flies in the face of the POST Act,” said Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, referring to a 2020 city law that requires the NYPD to disclose its surveillance tactics.
The move was announced during a security briefing focused on J’ouvert, an annual Caribbean festival marking the end of slavery that brings thousands of revelers and a heavy police presence to the streets of Brooklyn.
But as the technology proliferates, privacy advocates say regulations have not kept up, opening the door to intrusive surveillance that would be illegal if conducted by a human police officer.
Cahn, the privacy advocate, said city officials should be more transparent with the public about how police are currently using drones, with clear guardrails that prevent surveillance overreach in the future.
The original article contains 578 words, the summary contains 193 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Reminder that the NY police department is the only municipal police department in the world with detachments in foreign countries. To protect New York, of course!
I wonder if you could file a complaint with the FAA?
I was more thinking about these rules
Visual line-of-sight (VLOS) only; the unmanned aircraft must remain within VLOS of the remote pilot in command and the person manipulating the flight controls of the small UAS. Alternatively, the unmanned aircraft must remain within VLOS of the visual observer.
Small unmanned aircraft may not operate over any persons not directly participating in the operation, not under a covered structure, and not inside a covered stationary vehicle.
Daylight-only operations, or civil twilight (30 minutes before official sunrise to 30 minutes after official sunset, local time) with appropriate anti-collision lighting.
But it does say this:
Most of the restrictions discussed above are waivable if the applicant demonstrates that his or her operation can safely be conducted under the terms of a certificate of waiver.
Sadly, law enforcement usually gets BVLOS waivers (exemption to Line-Of-Sight rules) very easily, and most yards can easily be surveilled from Class G airspace…
Maybe the police should focus on responding to noise complaints in a timely way instead of engaging in yet more surveillance? When I lived in NYC every noise complaint took at least 12 hours to get a police response. Sometimes they wouldn’t come until days later.
Since it’s not inside a home, apparently they can get away with it:
