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Council debates police drone purchases and data‑retention safeguards
Summary
Council reviewed drone purchases proposed in the capital program, with staff saying video would be stored on Axon and typically retained for six months; councilors pressed for contract safeguards to prevent data aggregation, asked about mutual‑aid footage retention, and suggested policies on recording during protests and drone identification.
Staff presented a capital program line for purchasing drones to be used by detectives for warrants and search-and-rescue operations; footage for the drone program would be stored on Axon, the same cloud subscription used for body‑worn cameras. City staff said the expectation is that video would be retained for six months and deleted thereafter unless part of an investigation. "We would expect to retain video for 6 months, deleted after that point, unless it was being retained as part of a criminal investigation," staff said.
Council members questioned whether Axon or the vendor could aggregate city footage across jurisdictions for other uses and asked that contract language prohibit use of Beacon data to train models or be shared beyond intended uses. Members also raised the possibility of identifying city drones so residents can distinguish them from hobbyist drones and asked staff to clarify mutual‑aid policies and whether external agencies' footage retention differs. Staff agreed to consult with the police chief and return with clearer policy recommendations.
