According to DNAinfo, Kelly cited how drones are already widely used in law enforcement, especially along the border, while admitting that the significant air traffic in New York City could present a challenge.
“The only thing we would do is maybe use the cheap $250 ones to take a look and see the size of the demonstration or something along those lines,” Kelly reportedly said.
Indeed, drones are used across the United States by the military and law enforcement as well as the National Guard and others, spurring lawmakers around the country to propose legislation limiting drone use.
On the drone issue, reports seem to paint completely conflicting images of Kelly’s statements. For instance, DNAinfo reports, “Kelly said the eyes in the sky — which have worried civil rights activists — could prove useful when sizing-up demonstrations, adding to an NYPD arsenal that already includes 3,000 cameras and high-powered anti-aircraft rifles that can shoot down planes.”
“We’re looking into it,” Kelly said during the interview with Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler at the 92nd Street Y, according to DNAinfo. “Anything that helps us.”
However, when reporting on the same public interview, Capital New York reported:
Adler asked repeatedly if Kelly would like to use “drones” and if he was actively looking to acquire one.New York Magazine also reported, “Adler, touching on additional civil liberties concerns, pressed Kelly on the possibility of drone surveillance. ‘You can go to Brookstone and buy a drone,’ Kelly suggested. When asked whether the NYPD is actively looking into the technology, he shot back, ‘You’re really into these drones,’ to laughs, and then said simply, ‘No.’”
“You’re really into this drones [topic],” Kelly said. The audience laughed.
“I want to know on their behalf,” Adler said, prompting more laughter from the audience. “Are you actively looking at it?”
“No,” said Kelly.
I reported on the NYPD branch in Kfar Saba, Israel last year, although that’s just one of many branches part of the non-transparent International Liaison Program.
“What we wanted to do was to put people in positions where they could sort of act as trip wires or listening posts for the city,” Kelly said. “They’re there primarily to ask the New York questions: Is there anything going on here that can help us better protect New York or we should know about in New York?”
Last year New York Magazine reported that NYPD officers have been stationed in “London, Lyons, Hanburg [sic], Toronto, and Tel Aviv,” while DNAinfo adds Abu Dhabi, Paris and the Dominican Republic.
During the interview, Kelly also claimed that the Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press series on surveillance of Muslims was “totally unfair, unjustified,” while also making the clearly baseless claim that it “was the product, perhaps, of some jealously [sic] in some other agencies.”
Kelly claimed that no laws were ever broken and that the series was “full of mistakes, half-truths, a terrible job […] meant to besmirch and diminish the reputation [of the NYPD.” One must wonder how illegal surveillance conducted far out of the NYPD’s jurisdiction does not break any laws.
There is apparently some confusion about the substance of Kelly’s comments during the public interview and the lack of consistent reporting on the exchange makes the truth that much more difficult to determine.
However, when we’re dealing with the surveillance obsessed NYPD – which is now potentially expanding that surveillance significantly in an attempt to stop mass shootings – the idea of drone use is far from unreasonable, especially given their massive budget.
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