WEBVTT - Police Drones and You 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:09.280 Welcome to it could happen here. I'm Garrison Davis. Now, 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:12.080 last week I spent a few days in Las Vegas 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:16.160 for the Consumer Electronics Showcase. Most of the time of 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:18.680 the convention, I was just walking around the show floor 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:24.280 looking at various new types of surveillance equipment, AI products, 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:28.360 and various other bullshit that was being pedled to many 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:31.840 industry attendees of CEES. But I was also able to 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:34.240 go to a few panels. Now, panels are really interesting 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:36.520 because you get to hear people who are working inside 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.519 industries talk about stuff that they don't usually really publicly 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.159 talk about very much. And on the first day of 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.120 the convention, I went to a panel about drone technology. 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.919 Half of the panel was about how Walmart is launching 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:53.600 new delivery drones in Dallas, Texas. The other half was 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.920 about police drones. And that's what we're going to be 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.400 talking about here today, how the police are using dr zones, 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.760 why they're using drones, and how you can probably expect 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:05.920 to be seeing a lot more drones up in the 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:10.240 sky piloted by either an AI or a police officer. 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:16.160 So let's get started. Cheula Vista is the southernmost kind 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:19.520 of medium sized city in California with the population of 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.080 two hundred and seventy eight thousand people. Cheulavista has a 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:26.040 police force of two hundred and eighty nine sworn officers 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.920 as well as one hundred and twenty civilian employees. On 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:33.399 top of their nearly three hundred officers, they operate a 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:36.400 drone fleet ten hours a day, seven days a week, 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.880 launching high deff camera mounted drones from four locations throughout 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.080 their small city. I'm going to quote from an article 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.680 from the MIT Technology Review, which did a deep dive 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:52.200 onto Cheullavista's police drones back in February of twenty twenty three. Quote. 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.720 Cheulavista uses these drones to extend the power of its 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.040 workforce in a number of ways. For example, if only 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.880 one officer is available, when two calls come in, one 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.400 for an armed suspect and another for shoplifting, an officer 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.760 will respond to the first one. But now cvpd's public 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:14.560 Information Officer, Sergeant Anthony Molina, says that dispatchers can send 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:19.680 a drone to surreptitiously trail the suspected shoplifter. Quote, and 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:22.040 this really gets at the heart of how these drones 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:25.320 are going to get used. They exist to funnel more 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.800 people into the criminal justice system. Instead of having to 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.680 choose between two calls, one of which actually could relate 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.440 to saving someone's life, the other just a petty crime. 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.560 Now the police can easily follow someone doing a petty 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.400 crime while responding to other calls and eventually catch up. 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.240 It's a way to just expand the amount of people 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:47.080 that can be arrested and thrown into jail. Nowadays, drones 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.440 are pretty common tools for police. Over one thy five 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:55.000 hundred departments currently use drones, usually for special occasions though, 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:59.760 like search and rescue, crime scene documentation, protest surveillance, and 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:04.080 sometimes tracking suspects. But at the moment, only about a 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.960 dozen police departments regularly dispatched drones in response to nine 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.200 to one one calls, the first of which was Chew 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:15.600 La Vista PD, who launched their quote drone as first 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:19.920 Responder program back in twenty eighteen. Would the goal of 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:24.919 having an unmanned aerial system or drone be proactively deployed 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:28.760 before an officer is on scene. Now we'll hear from 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.440 Chief Roxanna Kennedy of the Cheu La Vista Police Department 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:37.680 talking on the drone technology panel at CS We are. 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:41.080 Seven miles from the Mexico border, and we are the 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:43.520 second largest city in San Diego County. So we have 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.600 about two hundred and ninety officers and we serve a 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.600 community of about three hundred thousand. Because of the close 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:52.680 proximity to the door, we have a lot of people 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:56.520 that have traveled back and forth. We have a drone 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:02.240 program that I'm awfully proud of. We are responding proactively 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.320 to calls for service in our community, and so we 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:09.000 have drone station from fortifuent locations throughout our city. We 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.920 have pilots in command that are on the rooftop, and 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.600 then we have a operation center where we have smart 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:18.680 officers that are part one to seven pilots that fly 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.159 the drones. So we are responding now to calls for 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:26.600 service on average, and an officer on seeing a drone 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.279 on scene that's sharing information with our officers light streaming 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:33.680 that information on our cell phones or in our computers 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:37.240 that we're siving information about the call within ninety seconds 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.200 on average. And so what it's doing for us in 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.760 sure Vista and for our community is we are providing 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:48.600 information rapidly, real time information to officers so that they 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:51.720 can make better decisions so that everyone goes home safely. 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.280 We say, the community safer, the officers are safer, and 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:57.919 the subjects that we encounter are safer, so we're offully 0:04:57.960 --> 0:04:58.960 proud of what we're doing. 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.600 The way police are able to deploy drones used to 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:05.640 be a lot more limited. The use of drones is 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:10.080 regulated by the FFA, the Federal Aviation Administration. In most cases, 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:14.480 the FFA requires that both hobbyists and police departments only 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.039 fly drones within the operator's own line of sight. But 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.560 starting back in twenty nineteen, agencies and vendors could start 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.000 applying for a beyond visual line of sight or bev 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:29.239 LOOSS waiver from the FFA to fly drones remotely, allowing 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:33.920 for much longer flights in restricted airspace. Chula Vista Pedi 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.440 was the first department to get a BEVLOST waiver. The 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.160 MIT Tech Review estimated last year that roughly two hundred 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:44.640 and twenty five more departments now have one as well. 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.360 Another thing that I always talk about, because I think 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:53.160 it's critical, is the concept of why we're using drones, 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.400 what the benefit is to the community with the use 0:05:56.440 --> 0:06:00.279 of our drones, And I truly believe them. And my 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.000 officers can pick up their cell phone before they even 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.000 respond to the call, and they can look and see 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.919 the scene, what's happening, where the individual is. If the 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.360 person's facing in the middle of the park, there are 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.200 no children around, and there are noo, there's nobody that's 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.440 within the reach of this individual harmy, you might not 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.680 have to rush into that scene so quickly officers can 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.560 de escalate, make better decisions. And I mean, this is 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:29.599 just a game changer for law enforcement. And right now, 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.960 you know, we were the first agent agency to be 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:36.600 involved in the integrated Pilot program with the FAA. We're 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.200 very proud of that that they trusted us enough for 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:43.320 us to be the organization that brought forward all these 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:47.000 these ideas that are now being utilized in law enforcements. Now. 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.719 I've watched a lot of videos of police talking about 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:53.680 why they're using drones, of drone training companies talking about 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:56.760 why police drones are so important. In one video on 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.839 their website, this guy from Skyfire Consulting was talking about 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:02.880 how how police may not have had to kill Tameror 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.599 Rice if they simply had a drone watching beforehand so 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.640 they could see that it was a toy gun, which 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:11.960 is a ridiculous thing to say, because in the nine 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.920 one call that jump started this entire police interaction, it 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.120 was expressed that the caller thought the gun was probably 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:22.400 a toy. And this notion that is simply if police 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:26.080 have more ability to surveil, they'll be able to respond 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:30.120 safer and apply less deadly force, I think is a 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:35.720 pretty suspect premise. Now, the effectiveness of drone technology in 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:41.080 law enforcement is challenging to verify and quantify. The MIT 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.160 Tech review cannot find any third party studies showing that 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:49.120 drones reduce crime, even after interviewing CVPD officers as well 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:53.000 as drone vendors and researchers quote, nor could anyone provide 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:56.480 statistics on how many additional arrests or convictions came from 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.480 using drone technology. I was able to find some on 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:06.160 cvpd's website talking about how many drone initiated interactions resulted 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:10.240 in arrests, but quantifying additional arrests seems to be a 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:14.280 little challenging. Now, if you look at Cheulavista PD's own 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.400 drone response to stats, the vast majority of deployments I 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.800 estimate around seventy percent are for what the director of 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:25.080 investigations for the privacy rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:29.760 refers to as quote crimes of poverty unquote, which he 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.480 believes will be the target of most drone policing as 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:37.480 opposed to violent crime. Nearly thirty percent of Cheulavista's drone 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:43.360 deployments are for what's categorized as disturbances. Almost fifteen percent 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:47.480 are for psychological evaluations, ten percent are for quote, check 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:52.000 the area and information, over seven percent are for welfare checks, 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:56.160 six point five percent is for quote, unknown problem, and 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.719 over six percent is for suspicious person and another six 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:04.840 percent for traffic accidents. Now, some drone of deployments do 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.200 result in patrol units not having to be dispatched, but 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:12.920 CVPD also says that drones have assisted in thousands of arrests. 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:16.520 And I'm really not sure if having a drone following 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.440 someone around is the best thing for a fifty one 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.680 to fifty psych evaluation. The presence of a police officer 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.720 doesn't always make the situations better either, but I don't 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:30.760 see having a drone be a really calming presence if 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:46.200 you think someone needs mental help. Funding a whole fleet 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:51.240 of heavy duty surveillance drones and paying dedicated operators costs money. Now, 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:55.319 it's unclear to me how many drones to LEVISTAPD currently has, 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.120 and on their website they list ten different drone models 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.440 currently being in their fleet, most of them really expensive 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.599 DGI drones like the DGI Matrix, the DGI Inspire, the 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.839 DGA Phantom, the dj Maverick, as well as drones from 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:15.560 a few other random companies. But nevertheless, Chief Kennedy is 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:19.520 very grateful for their local police Foundation for heading up 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:24.720 the funding for their DFR drone first Responder program. Let's 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:25.319 hear from her. 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.200 I don't know if anyone here is in law enforcement, 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.600 but many agencies use drunes and there are all different 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.360 types of drones that are available. I call them reactive 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.320 drums or ones that are like the tactical drunes that 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.600 you can use to go in on a hostage situation 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:45.880 or a missing person to check in the canyon areas, 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.760 or you know, interior drones. We have drums that go 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:52.480 underneath bands, go inside addicts, all types of different drones, 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:56.559 and many organizations have drones like that, But a DFR 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.640 drone is very unique and different because these drones are flying. 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:03.959 As you can imagine, eighteen thousand missions, it puts a 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:07.160 lot of wear and tear on But that is one 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.480 of the biggest challenges beyond the fact of funding. So 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:16.240 we don't have huge budgets that are allotted for drone programs, 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:18.640 and so we've had to be very, very creative in 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.200 our police department, and we were very blessed to have 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:25.000 a police Foundation that has taken on the responsibility to 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:30.240 help us really start our drone program and continue going forward. 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:32.920 So funding is always going to be a challenge and 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.840 dependent upon the drone that you use. There are some 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.000 drones that you can't get any as you can't use 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.040 for assets seizure funding, nor can you get grants for 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.920 because sometimes when it comes to foreign drones there are 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.520 many challenges as well. So you have to think of 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.080 that and then we deal with legislation. Right now, that's 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.240 the new challenge that we all have. We have to 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:58.320 fite some bals. Like I said, I'm agnostic. I want 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.280 to use what's the best drum out there and protect 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:06.280 the information and we do that with encrypted software programs 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.200 that are on private servers. But you'll see that there's 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:12.480 a lot of discussion about drones and what drones we 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:13.840 should be using right now. 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.800 We'll get back to the chief's offhanded mention of legal 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:21.680 battles in a bit here, but Chula Vista's budgetary situation 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.040 may not be as dire as the Chief makes it 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:28.480 out to be, on top of their current fifty five 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:32.320 million dollar operating budget. Back in twenty twenty, the Loprenza 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:36.040 newspaper revealed that departments in San Diego County had secretly 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:39.440 been getting hundreds of millions of dollars in high tech 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:44.640 police equipment, including armored vehicles, facial recognition and phone breaking software, 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:49.959 license plate readers, drones, riot gear, among other miscellaneous technology, 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:53.360 as a part of a DHS grant program. Due to 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:57.679 their close proximity to the US Mexico border, Cheula Vista 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:01.120 was one such department, and as of twenty twenty, so 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:04.800 four years ago, they had already received over one million 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.960 dollars in grant funds from this DHS program, titled the 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:14.520 quote Urban Area Security Initiative. Considering Chief Kennedy's budgetary concerns, 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:18.640 drones actually have a lot of upsides financially, as they 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:22.520 are often a lot cheaper than alternative surveillance methods, as 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.520 well as being relatively easy to deploy remotely, either with 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:27.680 a joystick or just by clicking a point on a 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:32.200 map from a comfy office building. Issues around this ease 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.040 of use was pointed out by Dave Moss, the director 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:39.480 of investigations for the privacy rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.120 who was quoted in the MIT article saying, quote, up 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.760 until the last like five to ten years, there was 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.480 this unspoken check and balance on law enforcement power money. 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.760 You cannot have a police officer standing on every corner 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.640 of every street. You can't have a helicopter flying twenty 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.559 four seven because of fuel and insurance is really expensive. 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:02.320 But with all these new technologies, we don't have that 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.080 check and balance anymore. That's just going to result in 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.960 more people being pulled through the criminal justice system. 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.480 My officers constantly are on the air now is U 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:15.200 as one available? Is US one available? Because it's giving 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.880 them more information. Think about the fact that you can 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.200 look at your cell phone. I could be anywhere in 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.560 the world and I can look at kit lets me 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.080 know whenever there's a drone flock, and I can walk. 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:30.840 I can have visual awareness, aial overlay of what's happening 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.440 in my community, no matter where I am. 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:40.520 Advancements in technology are leading to further normalization of police surveillance. 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:44.560 Ten years ago, would people react to news of a 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:48.280 twenty four hour police drone program the same way they 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.800 would now. What was once the threat of big Brother 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:56.520 has since become a very sought after, unfetishized nanny state. 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:00.560 In the v for Veneta graphic novel, anarchist writer Alan 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:05.240 Moore imagined a fascist Britain characterized by surveillance cameras around 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.520 every corner, and now cities around the country are setting 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:12.040 up their own street mounted cameras, linked to private security 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:15.160 cameras and ring doorbell cameras to create a network of 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:19.080 life coverage around a whole city which is instantly accessible 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:24.760 to police. The more widespread consumer adoption of new technologies 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:28.480 like small camera mounted drones and doorbell cameras, the more 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.720 acceptable it seems for police to add such technology to 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:36.800 their arsenal of surveillance tools. It almost becomes expected to 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:41.320 LAVISTIPEDI has routinely declined to answer why their drones are 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.600 always recording both to and from the scene, and the 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:47.480 department has put in a lot of effort into managing 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.920 the backlash against their expanding drone program. 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:52.560 And I'll tell you one thing. Even some of the 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:55.560 day after this, they were very concerned about drones in 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:59.120 the sense of privacy. What are you doing with these drones? 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.000 As you're responding, you're trying to gather data and information 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.920 to spy on us, right, And we had to go 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.200 to a lot of detail and explaining that as our 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:12.120 drone lits off, it is immediately it is recording because 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:16.000 that's the information gatherer for us. As that drone responds, 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.240 the camera is already going almost three miles down the 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.960 roads where the scene is and giving us vital information 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:26.960 as the officers are responding. But one of the criticism was, well, 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.400 on the way back, is your drone just going in 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.440 my backyard? What if we're spoking marijuana in our backyard? 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:34.680 And I said, you're in California, it doesn't really matter. 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:39.160 But what we let that way go, right, But we said, okay, 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.280 we gave your concern. And so what we did was 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:47.200 we worked with the software company that we were with, 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:52.080 and they created an automatic so that as a drone returns, 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:56.480 it automatically tilts to the horizon. So we're not recording anything. 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.680 If another call came out, we can immediately we'll go 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.320 back a flight mapping for us and it will share 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.439 that information later on. But the goal is to listen 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:07.760 to your community as well. 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.080 Chief Kennedy's claim here is difficult to back up because 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:14.439 CVPD have refused to show the public any of the 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.240 drone footage they routinely collect. But if we take the 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.560 Chief at her word here anyway, she admits that the 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.440 drone goes back to recording at street level as soon 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:26.840 as there's another nine one one call, as they record 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.880 everything on the way to a scene. And the way 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:34.280 she phrases this whole tilt feature is quite misleading because 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:38.000 the camera never actually stops recording. She just claims that 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.320 it tilts slightly upwards in between nine one one calls, 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.080 but it's still capturing footage up to three miles away 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:49.960 the entire time it's in the air. Police in Cheulavista 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:53.440 have flown over eighteen thousand missions with their drowns. That's 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:57.399 a lot of footage. When talking about the privacy concerns 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.600 had by some residents of Cheulavista, Chief Kennedy really emphasized 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.720 how much her in the department really care about listening 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:09.280 to community feedback and how data transparency is so important 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:10.240 to CVPD. 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:17.120 Community engagement is essential, especially in law enforcement because there 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:19.760 is there are so many challenges when it comes to 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:23.840 misinformation that's out there, and whenever you're a part of 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:26.040 what's deemed as a government, everyone thinks that you have 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.880 some ulterior motive when you're involved with any type of technology, 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:33.440 and so we have worked really hard to build very 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:37.119 strong relationships with every aspect of our community. So it 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.359 was about in twenty fifteen when we started talking about 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:43.520 the concept and the possibility of drones and a laugh 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:45.960 with Chancel, said George Jensen, because that's my story that 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.000 I used to and I love it because I made 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.240 fun of my guys when they said that we want 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:52.240 to fly drunes. I said, oh, come on, now, what 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:54.679 are we in me? George jetson blind the cars, and 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:57.080 then I saw today they talked about a blind car. 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:02.480 So it happens. It happens, right, And so with the community, 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:06.080 we started having these conversations. We created a working group, 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.639 we started doing community forums. We started asking the community 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:11.679 about what would you think if we were able to 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.720 do something like this. We even went to some of 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:19.239 the organizations that may not always be so supportive of 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.480 these types of groups. We worked with the ASL you 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.320 and asked for their input on our policy. So before 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:29.240 we ever flew a drune, we call it the krawl 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:33.399 walk run base. We're still at the very end of crawl. 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:36.320 We're not into lock yet and we've been doing it 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.480 again also for five years. So you have to make 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:44.359 certain that you're transparent and we provided all types of 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.760 information that are available. If you go to all you 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:50.560 have put in is jobs to place drums and it'll 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.320 come up with us and you can look at all 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:55.600 the things that we do, all the information that we share, 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.439 the flight maps that we share. I mean, it's just 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:03.760 super important to have those community forums. Every year. We 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:06.240 do a community forum twice a year where we ask 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:07.680 for from our community. 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:11.840 Later on in the panel, Chief Kennedy said that CVPD 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:16.199 is quote unquote extremely transparent about their flight data and 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:20.200 quote unquote have nothing to hide relating to their use 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:25.520 of surveillance drones, which is a curious claim considering the 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:30.520 fact that CVPD has historically kept all drone footage hidden 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.760 from the public and has fought in court to do so, 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:39.280 despite the chief's emphasis on the police's commitment to transparency 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:43.400 and the importance of listening to community feedback, even going 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:47.200 as far as to consult the ACLU when developing their 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:51.600 drone program. For years now, the Cheulvista Police Department has 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:55.800 denied all FOYA and public records requests for any drone footage. 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.840 In response, are Turno Castanares, a Teu Livista resident and 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:04.840 owner of the local bilingual newspaper Loprenza, filed a lawsuit 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:09.440 against the city. CVPD argued that all drone footage should 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:12.600 be categorically exempt from the public records requests on the 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:16.200 basis that the footage could be used for a future investigation. 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.560 Just last December, only a few weeks before Cees, the 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:24.480 California Fourth District Court of Appeals ruled that this blanket 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:29.200 exemption is invalid and that not all drone first responder 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:32.840 footage could be classified as part of appending or ongoing 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:36.360 criminal investigation, pointing to examples such as nine oh one 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:39.600 calls about a roaming mountain lion or a stranded motorist. 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:44.160 And police were not happy about this ruling. I'll talk 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:46.919 about their reaction at the end of the episode, but 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:51.880 controlling the narrative about the drone first Responder program has 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:56.280 been of the utmost importance to Trulavista Police. As the 0:21:56.400 --> 0:22:01.040 chief herself expressed at the panel, feel good about telling 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:01.760 our story. 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:04.600 If you don't tell your own story in law enforcement, 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:06.400 other people will tell it for it and it might 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:09.520 not be the right story. So we've gotten really good 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:16.000 at sharing on our social media and through YouTube channels 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:18.520 and everything success stories of what we're doing. 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:23.159 That is quite the claim there, to paraphrase the Electronic 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:27.840 Frontier Foundation. Without public access to their drone footage, it 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:31.119 makes it very difficult to assess how much privacy you 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:34.600 have in Cheula Vista and whether police are even following 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:38.320 their own rules about when and whether they record sensitive 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:44.040 places like people's homes, backyards, or public protests. And that's 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:46.800 why this recent ruling and the legal precedent it sets 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:50.639 is a huge win for actual transparency and marks the 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:53.680 first step towards the public finally getting a look at 0:22:53.720 --> 0:23:09.639 how these drones are being used in Scheula Vista. With 0:23:09.880 --> 0:23:13.479 drone first responder programs is spreading to police departments across 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:17.080 the country, modeled after the one in Chula Vesta. Combined 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:21.520 with the increasing presence of stationary street level cameras, the 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:24.360 ability for police to be watching everywhere without the need 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:27.960 for on the ground officers creates what the eff refers 0:23:28.000 --> 0:23:31.560 to as quote, a fundamental change in strategy with police 0:23:31.560 --> 0:23:35.320 responding to a much much larger number of situations with drones, 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:41.400 resulting in pervasive, if not persistent, surveillance of communities unquote. 0:23:42.119 --> 0:23:46.159 Speaking of persistent surveillance, near the end of the panel, 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:49.239 the chief announced that to Lavesta, PD is planning to 0:23:49.320 --> 0:23:53.480 expand their ten hour a day drone first responder program 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:57.760 to a constant twenty four hour a day drone surveillance program, 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:00.720 more than doubling the department's capaccy need to have eyes 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:03.480 in the sky would mean a lot more work hours 0:24:03.480 --> 0:24:06.159 for drone operators, as well as a large increase in 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:09.920 the amount of video files being stored indefinitely, But Chief 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:14.080 Kennedy claimed that they're looking into offsetting costs by replacing 0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:17.400 some of the drone piloting team with AI assisted piloting 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:19.560 and autonomous devices. 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:24.760 You've clearly been a leader with thrones's first responder and technology. 0:24:25.320 --> 0:24:27.960 Looking forward, what is the future hole for the Department. 0:24:28.400 --> 0:24:30.400 I assume you're spending a lot of time telling others 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:35.000 about the program edition using drones, but beyond that, what's 0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:38.600 it at Well, my hope is that we'll be moving 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:43.240 towards twenty four hour operations. Right now, we're from sunrise 0:24:43.280 --> 0:24:46.040