Council approves drone "first responder" pilot despite privacy concerns; report due after May 15

Rochester City Council voted to approve a budget amendment and appropriation to fund overtime associated with a pilot program to use police drones as first responders.

The public-safety committee brought the measure forward; the vote on Introductory 124 passed in a roll call after extended debate. Council member Stanley Martin announced he would vote no, citing concerns raised by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the lack of a formal community input process and written policy. Martin said he was also troubled that the pilot began April 1 before council had signed off on the funding.

Council member Willie J. Lightfoot Sr., chair of the Public Safety Committee, and other supporters described the pilot as limited and experimental. Lightfoot said the program was intended to provide operational data in a contained trial: “it was a pilot program. And I felt that we could get more information,” he said. The police described the pilot as running April 1 through May 15 and said the goal was to achieve roughly 30 days of flight operations, with an additional 15 days built in to allow for weather or no-fly days.

Police representatives said the city will use drones already purchased and that the pilot focuses on specific uses: searching for missing people (including river gorge areas), ATV enforcement, stolen-car response and providing scene information on calls such as large fights. The department said drones are already deployed for public events — for example, the Lilac Festival and the Jazz Festival — and that the pilot would test whether drones can be used to arrive earlier than officers and provide situational awareness that could cancel unnecessary officer responses.

Chief-level staff explained operational details: a drone deployment requires an FAA-licensed operator, an on-scene supervisor and at least one additional support officer; the overtime request covered the personnel costs to operate the pilot on off-duty hours. Captain Cooman (head of the unit) was named as the person preparing the internal deployment report. The chief said the internal report will track each deployment, including job cards from 911 to show which incidents prompted drone use.

Martin said there was no written policy guiding drone use at the start of the pilot and that the rollout felt “haphazard.” Lightfoot and other council supporters said the department committed to a work session and to providing the council with the pilot data before any larger rollout or budget request. Council member Mitch Gruber asked for a clear list of evaluation questions and a timeline; the police said the captain would produce the report after the pilot ends May 15.

Roll-call vote: Gruber (yes), Lightfoot (yes), Lupien (yes), Martin (no), Monroe (yes), Patterson (yes), Vice President Lashay D. Harris (yes), President Miguel A. Melendez Jr. (yes). Council member Kim Smith was excused. The measure carried.