OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) -- The Oakland Police Department announced the launch of a new drone program for the city.
Officials say the drones will be used for search and rescue missions and to protect the city from future crime.
"They will be used for specific reasons," Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said. "Search and rescue, which is key when we have someone missing in Oakland Hills or someone where we want to cover a large area, this will be used to support that effort."
The drones are similar to the ones used by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and the Chief says they will not only free up officers, but keep them safer.
"When we talk about high risk search warrants when we go into an area that puts officers at risk, it is good to get a visual on that area," Armstrong said.
The chief says the Oakland Police Department drone program has the approval of the city council and the city’s privacy advisory commission.
Recorded drone footage can only be kept for five days.
However this rule does not apply unless the video is tied to a criminal investigation. No artificial intelligence or facial recognition will be collected.
The chief says drones maybe used to curb sideshow activity, but will not be used to cruise Oakland streets, or as a surveillance tool during protests.
"But I do think we can revisit at some point if we feel like its an appropriate tool , we will go back to the privacy commission if we think it will be effective," Armstrong said. "We do like an aerial view in crowd management situations but we won't be using this initially in those situations."
The drone program was funded by an $8,000 grant from California Waste Solutions and the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council.
"Hopefully this will keep Oakland safe not just Chinatown, we could have just provided one or two drones but we provided enough to cover the entire city," Oakland Chinatown Improvement Councilman Stewart Chen says.
The Department was given three drones to start with and hope to expand to eight, officials report.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/LuQY4Pn
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