San Jose Has a Plan For Letting Its Police Use Drones

The long saga of the San Jose Police Department's drone usage may have just reached a definitive conclusion. Over the last year, after repeatedly denying, then admitting, then apologizing for denying, the San Jose PD has put together formal guidelines for how it plans to use an unmanned aerial vehicle it purchased last January. Yesterday, as reported by the San Jose Mercury News, the city council unanimously voted to approve that policy. If they receive FAA approval, another eye could be coming to the skies of the city.

According to reporting on the policy, the police department has pledged to only use the drone in active shooter/hostage situations, and to assist bomb dispersal units. Furthermore, the policy outlines that the drone will not be used in any sort of surveillance capacity, and that it won't even be equipped with the technology to store any data at all. They're stressing the fact that this drone will be just another tool in their arsenal, not the precursor to some Minority Report-style mass surveillance. The San Jose PD hasn't had the best track record when it comes to truthfulness, but this policy is important, whether they abide by it or not.

Unmanned aerial vehicles for police departments, despite the dystopian scifi images they might inspire, are just tools. The trouble is, federal and local agencies that use them or want to use them, aren't the most transparent about their use. Despite watchdog groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation's admirable efforts to track domestic drone usage, the public isn't given nearly enough information about what different agencies use this technology for.

Formal guidelines like San Jose's could serve as a dual purpose contract: to inform the public on what agencies plan to do with their drones, and to serve as documentation when the inevitable abuses happen and someone need to be held accountable.