Residents, ACLU Complained To The Mayor, Who Shut The Program Down

After obtaining two small UAVs through federal grants to test as law enforcement tools, the Seattle Police Department has been ordered not to fly them by the Mayor's Office after residents and others complained about privacy.

The aircraft will be returned to the company that made them. In a statement, Mayor Mike McGinn (pictured) said "I spoke with Seattle Police Chief John Diaz, and we agreed that it was time to end the unmanned aerial vehicle program, so that SPD can focus its resources on public safety and the community building work that is the department's priority."

The Draganflyer X6 aircraft had been publicly demonstrated by the Seattle police after recently receiving FAA approval for their use. The department said the drones' mission would be to provide aerial views of large crime scenes and natural disasters, as well as SAR operations. They would not have been authorized to fly over an "open-air assembly of people" or for general surveillance. The cameras installed on the drones would have been allowed to utilize face-recognition software, however.

The movement to prevent the UAV's use was led by the Washington State ACLU, which said on its website "The ACLU of Washington applauds the Mayor’s decision to end Seattle’s police drone program. Drones would have given police unprecedented abilities to engage in surveillance and intrude on people’s privacy. The city obtained the drones through a federal grant without public input and without establishing any restrictions on their use." The group is pushing the state legislature to pass "very tight restrictions" on the use of UAVs by law enforcement statewide, according to its spokesman Doug Honig.

FMI: www.seattle.gov/mayor, http://www.aclu-wa.org/