The NYPD Is Sending Drones to the Sites of 9-1-1 Calls

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is now sending drones out on 9-1-1 calls to do the business that their Candy Crush-addicted human officers are too busy to tackle — and surveilling everyone in sight while they do it. As the cybersecurity news site The Record reports, these "drones as first responders" — or DFRs, as the NYPD calls them — can fly up to 45 miles per hour, filming everything on the block with telephoto cameras that can, per manufacturer Skydio, identify faces and license plates from nearly a mile away. Launched last year as part of embattled mayor Eric Adams' quest to shove technology into everything regardless of public opinion, these drones were initially only going to respond to "select priority public safety calls," according to a press release issued last November that formally announced the program. As The Record notes, however, the NYPD's definition of "select priority" seems awfully vague — and it doesn't actually report how many drones are deployed on ... Read full article.