City of San Jose approves one-year program for police drone

The Metropolis Council unanimously accepted an inventory of procedures advisable by the Police Division that may permit the division to make use of the drone for one yr after getting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

KNTV reports (http://bit.ly/1N3i7iG ) Wednesday that the San Jose City Council late Tuesday approved a one-year pilot program allowing police to use a drone.

According to the policy, the drone will be used only in two circumstances: to support the bomb squad in dealing with explosive material or when there is a live shooter or hostage situation. “It’s not about surveilling the public, it’s about giving us another tool that we can use on the street”, Sgt. The primary use of the Unmanned Aerial System, or UAS, will be for the bomb squad. Paul Kelly from the San Jose Police Officers’ Association said. Lawmakers and privacy activists immediately criticized the police secrecy, which came after a number of other police drone prosposals crashed, and the SJPD never deployed the UAV. The case became a nationally known example of police quietly using federal funds to purchase an advanced piece of technology. The earliest the drone could go up would likely be 2017.