Minneapolis Weighs Police Drone Trial as Residents Push Back on Surveillance Concerns
Izzy Canizares reports on Wednesday's Minneapolis City Council hearing over a proposed 75-day Skydio drone trial for first-response calls in the 4th precinct, a majority-Black area. MPD officials framed the drones as a tool to speed response times, while more than 30 residents raised concerns about Skydio's ties to Israeli military operations and a Department of Homeland Security surveillance contract, and questioned why the proposal is surfacing so soon after Operation Metro Surge. The council voted to advance the item without a recommendation, with a final vote set for July 16.
As increased surveillance technology continues to pop up around the country, the Minneapolis City Council heard arguments Wednesday for the trial use of drones as first-responder tools for the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), with community outcry.
City Council’s Public Health, Safety & Equity Committee introduced the program, which would be a 75-day trial with Skydio, the largest drone manufacturer in the country. The trial would utilize drones to respond to 911 calls in Minneapolis’s 4th precinct, an area whose primary demographic is black residents. MPD says it would become a tool for officers in first-response situations.
“We believe in a fairly simple concept. When certain 911 calls are received, a drone can launch immediately, arrive ahead of first responders, and provide live video, so 911 dispatchers, officers, firefighters and EMS personnel have a better understanding of what’s happening before they arrive or if they should go at all,” said Andy Skoogman, Chief of Staff for Minneapolis Community Safety. “Drones are not a replacement for police officers, for firefighters, for EMS personnel, or other first responders. They’re simply a tool that helps ensure the right resources are sent to the right call at the right time. ”
Despite the benefits MPD claims the drone contract would bring to the City, over 30 community members criticized the idea of more surveillance in their area. One of the largest complaints from residents is that Skydio has made much of its profits by shipping drones to Israel in its continued genocide in Palestine.
“We see them as weapons of war and mass surveillance, and do not want them to be used to control or kill people, either at home or abroad,” said Meridith Abbey, member of Women Against Military Madness. “Drone attacks cause thousands of fatalities across the globe and are a leading cause of civilian casualties in war.”
Residents also pointed out the irony of considering this proposal mere months after Metro Surge, especially since the company also has ties to Homeland Security. The DHS secured a contract with Skydio for over $500,000 last fall to use its technology to monitor protests, and ICE targets, while Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez, who led the meeting, asked Skydio representatives at the end for an update on its federal contracts, time ran out for their response, and were asked to share that information before the next council Meeting.
“It is not lost on me that many of the council members who support this initiative were also those who were wholly absent during the occupation and subsequent resistance to ICE,” said North Minneapolis resident Dan Edmonds. “Why are the taxpayers of this city meant to foot the bill of the Minneapolis police department yet again? A police department that, while this city was occupied, sat on its hands while racking up thousands of dollars in overtime that cannot be accounted for.”
While representatives of Skydio said that the drones used for the program would not have the technology capable of facial recognition, nor would it be able to save “non-evidential” footage past seven days, residents countered that the conversation might have been different if the relationship between MPD and its residents were different.
“They want drones first, and they’ll figure out what they’re gonna do with them later.
That concerns me deeply as someone who has lived in a part of town that has suffered a lot of police abuse,” said Sarah Heller a Ward 4 resident.
“Every interaction I have ever had with a member of the MPD in North Minneapolis has been one in which they degrade me as a person. The relationship between the police in Minnetonka, or Rochester, or Duluth, is very different from the relationship that we have in the North with the police.”
The City Council eventually voted to move the item forward for its next vote without any official recommendation, with the final vote occurring on July 16th.