NYC is Becoming a Drone Dystopia
By Yasmin Elmasry
Last month, NYPD removed the Knightscope K5 from the Times Square subway station, leaving the bulky drone to truly become a "trash can on wheels" as some privacy experts joked. The dig underscores the reasons for the K5's early retirement: not only was the program a huge waste of taxpayer dollars, but it was also full of garbage from the start.
Drones are not public safety tools, as Mayor Adams likes to pretend, but are public nuisances and even dangers. This past year, innocent New Yorkers were subjected to a barrage of drone surveillance. In September, a newly purchased fleet of aerial drones hovered over benign Labor Day celebrations throughout the city. And in October, those same drones surveilled hundreds of thousands of demonstrators over the course of a week, facilitating the arrest of 239 people. If 2023 is any indication, NYPD is poised to continue deploying record numbers of drones. In response, we are advocating for the passage of the Protect Our Privacy Act (“POP Act”) in New York State to prevent law enforcement agencies from using drones to infringe on New Yorkers’ privacy.
In New York State alone, there are 530 active drone registrations by 85 different government entities, 327 of which are operated by law enforcement agencies. These police departments collect alarming amounts of data, yet rarely disclose how the data is used and where it is stored.
As the US went through a cultural reckoning after the police killing of George Floyd, drones captured every moment of protest, including in New York State. Nationwide, the Department of Homeland Security monitored Black Lives Matters protests in 15 cities with the use of aerial technology. But these tactics were nothing new: Before the 2020 mass protests, Women’s Marches, Pride Marches, and even the Puerto Rican Day Parade were all surveilled by drones in 2019.
Drones disproportionately target BIPOC activists. Derrick “Dwreck” Ingram’s experience with the NYPD is a chilling example of how the Department deploys drones to target activists and traumatize the public. Ingram, an organizer who educated others on protest surveillance by NYPD through cellphone taps and geofencing, was targeted for “yelling too loudly” at a police officer through a megaphone at a BLM protest. The day after the protest, he found his apartment surrounded by officers in riot gear, with their drones flying near his window.
A city with escalating, unregulated drones means a city under constant surveillance, with new insidious uses for drones popping up every day. What does that mean for New Yorkers? Protests would confront increasingly panoptic surveillance, and those led by people of color would face the most repression. Abortion clinics could also face aerial surveillance, potentially leaving individuals crossing state lines for care in New York vulnerable to interstate spying. Undocumented immigrants, individuals with substance use disorders, and others who rightfully fear over-policing in their everyday lives may feel unsafe outdoors.
The San Francisco board of supervisors approved a policy to roll out killer robots that can use deadly force on potential suspects. It was only after public outcry that they reversed their decision temporarily. These robots represent the rapid militarization of American police forces, and it will not be long before law enforcement agencies in New York State attempt to make policing even more automated and emotionally removed from on-the-ground situations – and ultimately more dangerous for everyday New Yorkers.
The POP Act is a necessary piece of civil rights legislation to protect New Yorkers from the dystopian society being proposed in our biggest city. It is imperative that the New York State legislature passes it, and the Governor signs it.
Elmasry is a senior at Johns Hopkins University studying Public Health and Bioethics. She formerly served as a Civil Rights Intern at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.).