Milwaukee Police Creating a Drone Team

Skydio X10 drone. Image from Skydio website.

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) drone.

MPD intends to use a $295,000 allocation of its federal asset forfeiture funds to purchase 16 drones for indoor and outdoor use and train its new “airborne assessment team” in their use.

It would move the department from what chief of staff Heather Hough described in a March committee meeting as “one guy with a drone” to a team of officers trained to fly unnamed aircraft to respond to tactical situations, search-and-rescue efforts, large crowds, standoffs and other investigations.

Team leader sergeant Christopher Boss, currently the one guy with a drone, said more than 1,500 police departments are now reporting their use of drones to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Boss, who has been testing the equipment’s potential for the past year, is optimistic it will improve public safety, officer safety and department efficiency. A number of council members are excited about what drones could do, while members of the Fire & Police Commission are concerned about what it could mean for civil liberties.

“More time, more distance,” said Boss to the Public Safety & Health Committee on March 21 of rushing to approach an incident where gun shots were reported. “You could save lives, not just your own, you could save a life of a citizen.”

He said it would also help de-escalate protests, where, Boss acknowledged, police presence can trigger violence.

The sergeant showed videos captured of the RNC protest march, officers searching McGovern Park, monitoring an intersection/street takeover and New Year’s Day polar plunge where he tested using a drone to monitor situations.

The aerial equipment, said Boss, can be used to more quickly map out crime scenes to reduce the amount of time officers spend on an initial investigation securing a scene and more quickly respond to incidents, like a Shamrock Shuffle bar fight where Boss said he was able to identify the suspect before officers arrived on the scene.

“This can be considered a body-worn camera with a different perspective,” he said. The footage is subject to the same storage requirement.

There will be no weapons on the drones and Boss said the agency would also publish its flight paths. Its new standard operating instructions prevent it from using facial recognition technology on the drone itself, but Hough said the department is exploring the technology for video analysis and would issue a different policy if it advances a facial recognition system.

“We have looked at some of the challenges and some of the concerns that other departments have dealt with across the country,” said MPD Inspector David Feldmeier.

Fire & Police Commission (FPC) member Bree Spencer is concerned with the department’s potential widespread drone adoption, even given its new policy. “I’m very worried about things like protests, I think for very good reason. Our federal government is doing some very funky stuff with protesters,” said Spencer on March 20 at a FPC meeting.

Hough said that is why the department is planning its public dashboard.

“It’s always for us not a surveillance tool, it’s a reactive tool,” said Hough. She said the department envisions using the drones to monitor violent agitators from interacting with peaceful protests.

“I believe you that it makes your job easier and that it can result in outcomes that are better for law enforcement engagement,” said Spencer. “I think I just worry about the cost to individual civil rights and like how that’s going to just keep growing in our society. I also wish the public had more input whether or not the use of this technology is here.” New commissioner Krissie Fung said she agreed with Spencer.

Hough said the department believes it has consulted American Civil Liberties Union guidelines in developing its operating instructions.

“We’re actually very late to the game. The Sheriff’s Office has this technology,” said Hough, who noted that MPD has previously requested MCSO drone support. She said other suburban departments have drones as well.

FPC Chair Miriam Horwitz praised the department for “moving ahead with new technology and being responsible with it.”

The department anticipates deploying one drone in each of its seven districts and and also training four officers to fly drones as their full-time assignment. Sixty officers, said Boss, have already applied to take a training program.

“I’m excited to see what you actually do,” said Alderwoman Larresa Taylor when a council committee was briefed on March 21.

“I’m glad we’re moving into a new era, using technology to provide that layer of public safety for our community. I’m excited to see how this sort of levels out,” said Alderwoman Sharlen P. Moore.

The department’s primary drones would be Skydio X10 devices. Boss said the department anticipates paying $15,000 per device and expects them to last several years. The total cost is $250,000 for equipment and $45,000 for training, with money coming from the federal asset forfeiture fund.

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