Air quality alerts spread across Minnesota as fires rage, sending smoke south

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

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 

. 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. 

“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 

, 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 

Shows

Morning Edition

On Air

Minnesota News

Minneapolis News

Cathy Wurzer

Host

Lukas Levin

Author

The Minneapolis Police Department is proposing a new program involving surveillance drones. Those drones were recently at the center of a video leak in San Francisco. 

Minneapolis City Council to vote on use of surveillance drones involved in data leak in San Francisco

A woman holds a sign that reads 'More surveillance does not equal more safety."

Minneapolis City Council to vote on controversial police drone use plan

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox