[AlanSE]

Getting a camera 400 feet in the air after a call to 911 dispatch gave a location sounds like a perfectly-balanced fulfillment of the social contract.

While there is an abundance of creeping excesses with tech and policing, the slippery slope argument got completely lost here.

[hellisothers]

It’s a slippery slope though, one doesn’t even need to be hyperbolic, like why not just have the drones always flying around instead of only as a responder?

[AlanSE]

From a technical standpoint it doesn't make a lot of sense.

CCTVs in cities are a big political topic. For corridors that people walk through often, this is much more effective for facial recognition and you don't have to power propellers or deal with crashes. The camera will operate for a decade without incident.

For overhead algorithmic surveillance, just use satellite photos. I fully expect that sat swarms in LEO surveillance will become a thing in my lifetime. Sure there are clouds, but the whole thing is imperfect, the goal isn't to track you 100% of the time and they don't need to anyway.

For persistent surveillance, drones are good for what exactly? Periodically peeking in windows? How many windows would a drone need to look in on a patrol? Can you fly them low enough to actually do this? On a regular route at that, my god.

I'm very worried about tracking with facial recognition and systematic location collecting based on cell signals and satellite car tracking. But this article was about a drone catching people smoking weed after a busybody called 911. The tech is a very marginal sideshow in that story.

[reaperducer]

why not just have the drones always flying around instead of only as a responder?

In large American cities, this has been the case for decades. Except with helicopters instead of drones.

In the 90's, Houston had two helicopters on patrol 24/7 (one HPD, one HCSO).

[throwaway290]

Sure but I would feel weird with a camera up in the air unless I totally trust that it is up because of an ongoing crime. Can you trust that? What if the camera hangs around "just in case"? How can you check? Will be police department obligated to disclose this or will they have a legal excuse to neither confirm nor deny?

[harimau777]

Maybe one approach would be to make it illegal for the police to deploy them without a warrant, require the warrants to be public, and to stream the drone's location.

The idea being to allow independent observers to check that the police are following the rules.

[BigRedDog1669]

And just like all of the current 'independent review' bodies for police, they will be run by the police department.

[Enginerrrd]

And what about getting a camera in the air outside your upstairs bedroom window to peek inside?

Based on recent history it would be deeply naive to think that they won't do that and worse with the technology once it's in their hands.

[hazmazlaz]

That would constitute an illegal search and you could sue the police department for it. The judicial system, despite all of its flaws, has already solved this particular scenario.