Policy For Worcester Police Drone Sought Before Approval

WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester City Councilor is asking city leaders to commit to creating a "civil liberties focused" policy for police use of drones, a request that mirrors testimony from a recent public hearing about the unmanned devices.

At-Large Councilor Thu Nguyen wants the council to vote on a resolution at Tuesday's meeting asking City Manager Ed Augustus Jr. to hold off on buying a drone for police "until a comprehensive and civil liberties focused policy regulating the use of [a drone] is submitted to the City Manager, City Council and the general public."

Worcester police want to use $25,000 from a $100,000 state earmark to buy a drone. During a hearing on Wednesday at a city council public safety committee meeting, police leaders said they would not be able to create a specific policy until they actually buy the drone. However, Deputy Chief Paul Saucier said any policy would likely mirror a blanket policy created by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

At that same hearing, Emiliano Falcon-Morano, the policy counsel for the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, asked Worcester to create the policy first.

It will be up to Augustus whether to approve the police request to buy a drone, not city council, City Solicitor Michael Traynor has said.

Police have listed a number of uses for the drone, from approaching people hiding from police — either outdoors or indoors — to searching for missing people. Police have also suggested the drone could be used to find homeless encampments, sparking concern that the unmanned aerial devices could sow further distrust between police and the homeless. District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj has asked the city to exclude the homeless from any drone use.

Worcester police have said they are already using drones borrowed from other departments in certain circumstances. Many police departments in Massachusetts already own one or more drones, including state police, Boston police and departments in Northampton, Tewksbury and Franklin. Framingham police are beginning a drone program, but have not formed a policy yet, according to journalist Andrew Quemere.