"Drones have already assisted SFPD in numerous cases including a sexual assault suspect that was arrested, several auto burglaries suspects," said SFPD Chief Bill Scott.
Earlier this year, San Francisco voters approved Mayor Breed's Proposition E allowing for the use surveillance cameras and drones to pursue suspects.
Now, SFPD's first data points are out. Police say they are working to confirm the arrests of several suspects the drones caught. The police department has six drones and 10 certified officers.
"We have a sense of urgency to make this a safe city and to do the things that the people in the city deserve," said Chief Scott.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said the drone videos were key in prosecuting the suspects.
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"As a result of that arrest and that footage, we were able to file auto burglaries charges on individuals, who quite frankly two of them are repeat offenders of crime," said Brooke Jenkins, San Francisco District Attorney.
So far, SFPD only deploys the drones after receiving intel of a potential crime in progress, but the plan is to expand the use of drones in problematic areas of the city.
"To get the resources and the equipment to the area that is being impacted by crime and deploy from areas that are impacted. That is certainly one of the strategies," said SFPD lieutenant Thomas Maguire.
The use of drones by law enforcement is concerning for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"It's disturbing that SFPD has not publicly released its policy related to the drones that it has acquired, and it tends to use. There is currently California state law AB481 that it's meant to dictate transparency around acquisitions and use of different types of military equipment and this includes drones," said Beryl Lipton, senior investigative researcher for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Chief Scott said they are following the law.
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"We don't believe we are violating state law. As a matter of fact, we were in compliance with state law," said Chief Scott.
Mayor Breed is now promising to expand the program.
"When you cross those lines here in San Francisco, there will be consequences. I appreciate our district attorney because she is prosecuting those cases," said Mayor Breed.
Regarding issues of privacy, SFPD tells us they are only storing videos of crimes and keeping them as evidence until the cases are prosecuted. Chief Scott said any other videos are deleted within 30 days.
The deployment of drones is concerning to EFF.
"One of the things we are very adamant about is that when there are regulations, laws, ordinances that are meant to mitigate the harms of surveillance and provide transparency to the public around the use and acquisition of this technology, that those ordinances and laws are actually followed," said Lipton.
Chief Scott said the drones are costing San Francisco $35,000 and the plan is to expand the program.