Update 6 a.m. — During Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, the item in question was pulled off the consent agenda for a discussion.
Wilmington Police Department Interim Chief Donny Williams addressed concerns from a resident about the 4th amendment, noting that WPD policy has strict guidelines that limit drone use to public spaces. Williams also noted that warrants are required to fly the drones over private property. Asked directly by council if Wilmington citizens should have any concerns about their privacy, Williams said no.
In response to questions from Councilman Kevin Spears about how and why Covid-19 funding was being used for drones, Williams noted that drones are an approved use under the federal grant program. Williams said that, in addition to wanting something that would provide consistent use for the department (instead of ‘sitting in a warehouse’ after the pandemic), the drones had legitimate uses. Williams cited examples from New Jersey and other states, including the use of speakers to address crowds and encourage social distancing, as well as to get an aerial perspective to see where crowds (for example at beaches) were failing to distance appropriately.
Williams also specified that the department’s current drones are assigned to the SABLE unit and activating them can be delayed by up to thirty minutes. The new drones, if received, would be assigned to individual patrol officers and kept in their vehicles.
Following Williams’ comments, City Council approved the measure unanimously.
WILMINGTON — The current Covid-19 pandemic has created numerous opportunities for federal and state funding for not only businesses and citizens, but also governments.
While most of the funding is provided with the intent of providing resources during the pandemic, the Wilmington Police Department is taking the opportunity to increase its ‘eye in the sky’ with eight new drones.
The City of Wilmington City Council is poised to vote on a motion that, on the surface, seems to be business as usual.
It is tucked away on the City Council’s consent agenda and is simply listed as a ‘Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Apply for a Coronavirus Supplemental Funding Solicitation in the Amount of $234,749.’
The consent agenda is where items that are typically considered routine are placed. The City Council generally votes on all of the items at one time without discussing any of the items in depth. More often than not the consent items are passed with little more effort than it takes to push a button to vote ‘yes.’
But the addition of eight new drones for the Wilmington Police Department seems to be anything but routine. Not only is it on the consent agenda where it will likely not get a second look, but the fact that the city is applying for Covid-19 relief funds to pay for drones is also questionable.
According to the request, “Grant funding is available to assist law enforcement agencies with dealing with Pandemic related emergency events, now and in the future. The City of Wilmington Police Department will use the grant funds to purchase equipment and supplies including, but not limited to: an ultraviolet light sterilization chamber, intermediate level first aid kits, and eight drones.”
First aid kits and a UV sterilization chamber both seem to be, Covid-19 related, but what about the drones?
Well, according to the request, the drones will allow officers to ‘preserve personal protective equipment’ (PPE).
“The drones will increase the ability to observe situations in real-time without the need for officers to engage directly and thereby will preserve existing PPE supplies,” according to the request.
It is unclear how much PPE is being used by police or if there is even a shortage of PPE at the Wilmington Police Department to warrant eight drones. Also, drones are typically used in surveillance situations in order to observe from afar, without being noticed. It is unclear how a drone conducting covert surveillance will prevent officers from using existing PPE supplies if the point it to remain unseen and simply to observe.
Most police work will still require officers to have contact with other people. Speeding tickets, criminal investigations, and other day-to-day police work can not be conducted by a drone.
While drones can be a useful tool for observation, their use by police as a mass surveillance gathering tool, that does not take into account anyone’s privacy has been an issue. It is not clear if the police will need warrants to use the drones to observe specific parties or if they would have carte blanche access to the drones to simply seek out criminal behavior and hope they see something.
City Council will vote on the request today at 6:30 p.m. and public comments are welcome. The meeting will be held at Wilmington Convention Center, 10 Convention Center Drive (in downtown Wilmington on the north waterfront).
