Residents and a former police commissioner urge Cleveland Council to pause police drone program, cite consent-decree oversight concerns

At the Cleveland City Council public-comment period, a former police commissioner and multiple residents urged the city to pause a police drone program and to increase public oversight, saying the purchase and policy expansion occurred without adequate community input.

Former Cleveland police commissioner Terry Wong told the council the administration approved $255,000 in taxpayer funds for police drones in February 2024 and urged an immediate freeze until public, technical and ethical review can take place. Wong said the purchase bypassed the community police commission and called for documents justifying the procurement to be released.

"In February 2024, this administration approved $255,000 in taxpayer funds for police drones," Wong said. "This purchase bypassed the community police commission, the body legally tasked with overseeing police policy." He urged the council to "freeze the drone program until the commission with public, technical, and ethical experts ban stealth and spy tactics." Wong also said the drones include capabilities he called "military grade" and argued the devices pose risks to civil liberties.

Other public speakers connected the drone question to the city's long-running consent-decree oversight. Brenda Bickerstaff, identified in public comment as representing Citizens for Safer Cleveland (Ward 9), said the consent decree is an important issue that requires a meeting between the law director, the chief, the monitor and the safety director to address compliance questions. Mount Pleasant resident Jimmy Gates asked the council to stay focused on the expensive consequences of oversight and cautioned about calls for the monitor’s resignation without full facts.

Councilmember Michael Polencic addressed the broader oversight question later in the meeting, describing progress under the consent-decree process while also noting the financial cost. "As of the sixteenth, I believe it's the sixteenth, we have spent 46,000,000 approximately on police oversight," Polencic said, adding his view that the administration has made progress toward constitutional policing.

What was presented to council: the clerk recorded a communication from the independent monitoring team — "File number 5522025 from the independent monitoring team for the consent decree, the sixteenth semiannual report, 06/01/2024 through 12/31/2024" — as an item received by council during the communications portion of the meeting. That filing was read into the record by the clerk.

Discussion, directions and decisions: speakers urged a pause of drone deployment, requested public release of procurement and policy documents, and called for the community police commission and independent technical experts to be involved. No formal council action to freeze the drone program or to require additional reporting was recorded in the meeting minutes or roll-call votes.

Why it matters: speakers said drone capabilities and procurement bypassing oversight bodies raise civil-liberties and community-trust concerns, while council members emphasized both progress under the consent decree and the financial cost of oversight.

Proponents' specific requests included: - Freeze the drone program pending review by the community police commission and public technical experts. (Terry Wong) - Release procurement documents and justifications for the use of drones in crowd management and neighborhood patrols. (Terry Wong) - Convene a meeting of the law director, police chief, monitor, and safety director to explain barriers to consent-decree compliance. (Brenda Bickerstaff)

No council motion or vote on a freeze was recorded.