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In San Francisco, Prop E will likely be on the ballot on March 5. Amongst other provisions designed to assist public safety agencies take care of rising crime rates in town, Prop E would ease the best way for police drone use. The discussion in San Francisco’s media, nevertheless, has highlighted the drone industry’s imperative to teach community leaders and lawmakers about what drones are good at – the de-escalation and higher outcomes that almost all communities hope for.
Prop E is supported by Mayor London Breed. It has numerous provisions, including reducing the reporting requirements and allowing using body camera footage as a reporting mechanism and the reduction of administrative tasks to not more than 20% of an officer’s time. Prop E also calls for a technology policy that will allow the San Francisco police force to make use of drones. Interestingly, the main target of each Prop E and the media push surrounding it has been based on using drones in high speed vehicle chases: however the proposal opens the door for added uses of drone technology.
The opposition from the ACLU and media comments about Prop E, nevertheless, highlight the necessity for further education of community leaders and activists. An article in Cal Matters conflates drones with “surveillance technology,” a typical thread that misunderstands the aim and the standards of drone use in most public safety departments.
Having covered the drone industry for nearly a decade, I’ve had many conversations about police drone use. I’ve had to elucidate to well-meaning those who the drones in query are under no circumstances weaponized; that they supply situational awareness, not surveillance; and that there are strict federal laws governing using drones. I tell often the paradigm-shifting conversation I once had with an officer from South Carolina who explained that they all the time put a drone up before entering the house of suspect in a SWAT operation. Once I asked what they searched for, he had one easy answer: toys. They used drones to make sure that they were aware of any possibility that children can be present, in order that they may make sure the appropach was appropriate.
These are conversations that all of us must have, to make sure that public safety officers in cities like San Francisco – already faced with multiple challenges – have the tools they should make their jobs easier, to make sure the protection of their officers and the community. Drones will not be “surveillance technology.” They’re “de-escalation technology” that make sure that all parties have the knowledge they should enter a situation safely and calmly; to know prematurely whether the suspect is holding a weapon or a water gun; and to guard surrounding communities.
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