Drone surveillance plan triggers protests

Oakland County commissioners voted 13-4 on April 8 to approve a nine-month police drone pilot after a meeting packed with residents who objected on privacy grounds. (clickondetroit.com) The program, called “Project Prove It,” pairs the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office with Flock Safety and will let seven drones respond to some 911 calls and case-related investigations across the county. The pilot is free at first, but an extension would cost $2.5 million over two years. (wxyz.com) Commissioners added amendments requiring the full board to vote again after the pilot, making the sheriff’s office the owner of the data, and limiting use to calls for service, officer-generated activity, or search and rescue. (govtech.com) Residents said those limits did not settle their concerns. At the meeting, Ferndale resident Jonathon Ross called the plan “the infrastructure of mass surveillance,” and other speakers questioned who could access footage, how long it would be stored, and whether the system could expand later. (cbsnews.com) The dispute turned as much on process as policy. Commissioners moved public comment until after the vote, and residents then spoke for more than three hours, with local coverage reporting that no speaker supported the plan. (govtech.com) Sheriff Michael Bouchard said his office already uses drones and wants to test whether newer systems can reach emergency scenes in about 90 seconds, search for missing children and people with Alzheimer’s disease, and track suspects without vehicle chases. (clickondetroit.com) Flock Safety said the sheriff’s office would control access to images, video, and metadata, and that data would be encrypted in transit and at rest. The company told Local 4 it has never had a data breach. (clickondetroit.com) The fight lands in a county that already has experience with aerial policing and where Flock’s camera systems are part of a broader national debate over automated surveillance. In Oakland County, opponents pointed to nearby Ferndale, where critics said police did not renew a Flock contract. (cbsnews.com) The next test is whether the pilot ever becomes permanent. Commissioners will have to vote again after nine months, and the same questions that filled the room on April 8 — privacy, data control, and trust in law enforcement — are likely to return with it. (wxyz.com)