Minneapolis City Council to vote on controversial police drone use plan
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The Minneapolis City Council is expected to vote Thursday on a 75-day pilot program to employ Skydio drones as first responders for the Minneapolis Police Department.
In San Francisco, the drones from the same company were recently involved in a data leak, according to a recent report from Wired. The drones have been used in San Francisco since 2024 and authorized for vehicle pursuits and active investigations, according to the report.
But leaked video showed the extent of the surveillance.
“The footage showed drones tracking vehicles across the cities and hovering over people who really appeared unaware that they were being filmed,” said Wired senior correspondent Dhruv Mehrotra.
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“There were hundreds of people who were sort of uninvolved with the incident that was being responded to who ended up being captured by the cameras of just a single flight.”
Mehrotra added that the San Francisco police are pretty transparent about the data used by the drones, they just don’t typically include video.
In Minneapolis, the idea for the pilot program drew ire from dozens of residents, many still anxious from the federal surge last winter.
The Minneapolis Police Department declined to comment.
Listen to the conversation by clicking the player above. Read Wired’s reporting here.
