New video from San Francisco police shows cops storming a sideshow, catching bippers near the Embarcadero and even arresting an attempted kidnapping suspect.
The footage was unveiled during a Tuesday press conference announcing the department’s new drone program, which was approved with the passage of Proposition E in March.
Drone footage captured the night of July 4 shows people setting off fireworks and driving in donuts at the intersection of 25th Street and Treat Avenue in the Mission before more than a dozen cops storm toward the crowd as revelers flee.
Another drone video shows two suspected thieves on dirt bikes breaking into cars near the Embarcadero on July 26. The video then shows the bikes being abandoned in a park as one of the suspects is pursued on foot by police and arrested.
A third clip shows a suspect jumping out of an SUV before smashing the back window of a car and stealing a red bag from it. The incident was captured via drone July 25 at Front and Green streets near the Embarcadero.
Footage taken May 30 shows officers pulling over and arresting a driver on suspicion of attempted kidnapping and sexual assault. A drone caught the arrest from above.
Beyond drones, cops are using other surveillance technology, including automated license-plate-reading cameras. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said the cameras work in concert with drones to catch criminals who use stolen cars to commit other crimes.
“Hopefully this will be the technology that will not only be used to respond to crimes but also deter,” Jenkins said during the press conference.
“This technology is a game changer,” Police Chief Bill Scott said.
The six drones cost $35,000 and have been deployed 65 times since mid-May, police said. Citing inventory records, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that police are expected to buy 22 more drones for $324,000.
“We’re still looking at the budget,” said Thomas Maguire, a lieutenant in SFPD’s strategic investigations unit, which has been using drones.
According to Scott, officers won’t be flying drones around for “passive surveillance,” although police do plan to station the devices near “problem areas” where crimes like car break-ins are common, such as the Embarcadero.
“We’re not just hovering drones over the city,” Scott said. “We only launch them if they are related to a specific incident.”
Critics have warned that the technology could expose citizens to undue surveillance and police misconduct.
“This proposition isn’t about whether police can use surveillance; they can under safety policies,” Matt Cagle, an attorney for the ACLU of Northern California, told CBS News Bay Area in January when quizzed about Prop. E. “This proposition rips those safety policies away and allows police to expand and deploy dangerous surveillance technology and more easily hide use-of-force incidents.”
San Francisco police have not been able to deploy helicopter units since a crash in January 2000 killed two officers.