Worcester Police Drone Backed By Councilors After Policy Revisions

WORCESTER, MA — The Worcester City Council in a lopsided vote Tuesday night supported the police department's bid to buy a drone, the culmination of nearly three months of hearings and community meetings about how the device could hamper civil rights — in particular, those of homeless residents.

Tuesday's 7 to 3 vote came after a flurry of activity over the last week to allay the concerns of civil rights advocates and councilors hesitant about supporting the drone. A meeting between acting City Manager Eric Batista and Chief Steven Sargent on Thursday with ACLU of Massachusetts attorney Emiliano Falcon-Morano produced seven updates to the police department's draft drone policy.

Those changes included a provision that the drone would not be used to "harass, intimidate, or discriminate against any individual or group," and a provision requiring quarterly reports on the drone sent to the city manager, city council and public.

And in a memo outlining the changes, Sargent pledged not to use the drone to locate homeless residents, except in emergencies.

"We are keenly aware of concerns that have been raised regarding unsheltered individuals," Sargent wrote. "Our department does not intend on using the technology to identify or locate unsheltered individuals. Every use of the [drone] would need to be specifically authorized and used to provide an aerial perspective in emergency situations."

It was a memo sent by Sargent to councilors in April that set off alarms because he said the drone could help the city's homeless outreach team find encampments.

"An [unmanned aircraft system] would be of assistance to the city's Quality of Life team when searching for homeless encampments," the memo said in a section outlining how the drone could be used in search and rescue missions.

Sargent and Deputy Chief Paul Saucier have since downplayed that portion of the memo, saying the drone would only be used “as a safety device to assist the police when there's a catastrophic event." Police have also made conflicting statements, and altered their position on a special provision for the homeless.

Last week, Sargent told councilors the drone could be used to identify homeless camps if police were receiving complaints about one, or to find camps to offer services to the homeless.

"The only reason we would want to put a drone up for the unhoused would be to identify them, so we can offer them services,” he said at a June 7 finance subcommittee meeting.

Sargent in May told councilors the drone policy could include a carve-out for the homeless. But less than a month later, Deputy Chief Paul Saucier said the department would not exclude the homeless — or any specific group.

Worcester Health and Human Services Commissioner Dr. Matilde Castiel — whose department manages the Quality of Life team — said Tuesday that she had read the drone policy and was comfortable with it. Castiel has not been part of the larger drone policy discussion and first learned about it during a community meeting about three weeks ago, she said.

Castiel reiterated what other homeless advocates had previously told councilors: using drones to either surveil or identify encampments could drive a wedge between outreach workers and homeless residents. Castiel said her department would have no use for the drone because outreach workers already know where homeless camps are.

"Everything we do is try to make sure people who are in encampments are safe," she said. "You have to build relationships, and [using drones] would be something that would not build relationships."

The ACLU's Falcon-Morano said in testimony to the council that his organization wanted to see a a provision "prohibiting the use of drones to track people experiencing homelessness." The ACLU also wanted a provision specifying that Worcester police would not share drone data with other agencies, including federal authorities like Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ACLU does not endorse the use of any technology by police.

"The ACLU has significant concerns about unmanned aerial surveillance that uses drone technology for law enforcement purposes. Accordingly, we believe that such use should be subject to strict policies and procedures," Falcon-Morano said in testimony on Tuesday, while also acknowledging the city's willingness to make changes to the drone policy.

Before Tuesday’s vote, councilors took turns offering their positions on the drone.

District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj, who rallied homeless providers to testify about how the drone could harm the homeless, said the policy should contain a carve-out for the homeless. She also made a motion to cap the number of Worcester police drones at one. That motion failed in a 3 to 6 vote with one abstention. A separate measure to delay new drone acquisitions for about a year also failed in a 4 to 6 vote.

At-Large Councilor Khrystian King said he had asked for data from police about when the department had used drones in the past — Worcester police have borrowed drones from other departments, including as recently as during a tercentennial parade over the weekend — and how often. As of Tuesday, King had not received the data, and Batista said it hasn’t been prepared yet.

“For me, data and policy in my world go hand in hand,” King said. “We don’t have that here.”

At-Large Councilor Kate Toomey, who chairs the council public safety committee, highlighted the 10 public discussions over the drone, and how it might help in emergencies like missing persons or active shooters.

“There were never ever any plans to hunt down anyone or harass anyone,” she said.

Toomey, At-Large Councilors Donna Colorio and Moe Bergman, Mayor Joseph Petty, District 2 Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson, District 1 Councilor Sean Rose and District 3 Councilor George Russell voted in favor of the drone; King, Haxhiaj and At-Large Councilor Thu Nguyen voted no. District 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera was not present for the vote.

Former city manager Ed Augustus Jr. brought the drone proposal to the council in April, but acting City Manager Eric Batista put his own stamp on the issue Tuesday. Speaking to Talk of the Commonwealth host Hank Stolz Tuesday morning, Batista said he wouldn't let police buy the drone without council support.

Batista reiterated to councilors that the drone would not be used around the homeless, except in emergency situations.

Although councilors voted on the drone Tuesday, City Solicitor Michael Traynor has said only the city manager could decide whether to buy the aircraft. Police will use a $25,000 earmark that state Sen. Michael Moore (D-Worcester) obtained in the state fiscal year 2022 budget to buy the drone.

Castiel said she believed police would use the drone only in emergencies, either around the homeless or in other situations. She highlighted that the drone could've been used during a recent fire at an encampment in a hilly, wooded area along Providence Street. In that case, the device could've found people trapped or assessed the size of the blaze.

"I feel comfortable with the policy, and I feel comfortable that I will be notified every time they've used a drone and be able to review it," Castiel said Tuesday. "I think we will make sure that is exactly what's going to happen, that it's used for emergency situations."