Committee advances 75‑day Skydio drone pilot to full council amid broad public opposition

The Minneapolis Public Health, Safety and Equity Committee on July 8 advanced a proposed 75‑day, no‑cost Skydio ‘‘drones as first responder’’ pilot to the full City Council for a final vote, after nearly three hours of public testimony and extended questioning from council members.

Andy Schugman, chief of staff for the Office of Community Safety, framed the proposal as an exploratory, data‑driven pilot intended to test whether drones can arrive on scene faster than ambulances or patrol cars and provide live video to dispatchers and first responders. "When certain 9‑1‑1 calls are received, drones can launch immediately, arrive ahead of first responders, and provide live video so 9‑1‑1 dispatchers, officers, firefighters, [and] EMS personnel have a better understanding of what's happening before they arrive," Schugman said during the presentation.

MPD Deputy Chief Thomas Campbell described technical and operational details: the proposed trial would operate in the 4th Precinct, launch from two drone docks planned for Fire Station 14 on Lowry, run for 75 days at no cost to the city, and staff pilots during weekday hours. Campbell said the department currently has licensed pilots and an existing drone program; for the pilot MPD and Skydio analyzed priority 0 and 1 calls and reported that two docks could have reached roughly 4,643 of those calls in under 120 seconds. MPD said all flights would be recorded and uploaded to the city's evidence system, non‑evidentiary footage would be deleted under state retention rules, and operations would follow FAA rules and state law.

A large majority of the public speakers were opposed. Community members, legal experts and advocacy groups raised multiple concerns: the company's reported military and federal contracts, the potential for mission creep and warrantless surveillance under state statute, the risk of data sharing with federal agencies (including ICE/DHS), the psychological and community impacts of additional surveillance in heavily policed neighborhoods, and operational safety (including reports of drone crashes elsewhere). Meredith Abbey of Women Against Military Madness said the group viewed Skydio as "weapons of war and mass surveillance" and urged the council not to contract with the company.

Council members pressed MPD and MECC (the emergency communications center) on legal limits, definitions and oversight: which statutory exceptions would allow a drone launch, how the department would distinguish "evidentiary" flights from non‑evidentiary flights, whether Skydio would have access to recorded footage, and which success metrics would determine whether the city should expand or end the program. MPD representatives said data would be controlled by the city and uploaded to evidence.com on docking; they said non‑evidentiary flights are deleted under state law within seven days and evidentiary video is retained under state evidence retention rules. MPD also said department policy narrows state statute permissions and requires chain‑of‑command approval for flights outside typical subdivisions.

After hearing public testimony and asking follow‑up questions, the committee voted to send the contract to full council "without recommendation," an advisory action that allows the full 13‑member City Council to make the final decision (the presentation noted a potential full‑council vote on July 16 and an earliest possible pilot launch of July 20 if approved). Council members and the presenters said they would continue deliberations on data‑management terms, retention windows, oversight mechanisms and stopping criteria during the full‑council process.

What to watch next: The full City Council is scheduled to consider the contract at its July meeting; council members asked staff for additional due diligence, including any federal contract history for Skydio, contractual language preventing third‑party access to footage, and clearer metrics and stopping criteria for the pilot.