After a man was fatally shot outside a St. Paul Target last week, police officers and K-9s searched on the ground, while law enforcement launched a drone to assist in the search for a suspect.
A camera on the drone gave police a birds-eye view of the area and a thermal imaging camera allowed them to look for anyone hiding.
St. Paul doesn’t have drones yet, so they asked for assistance of the Ramsey County sheriff’s office, which put up one of their drones. A suspect wasn’t found in Thursday’s case, but police say it’s an example of the kind of emergency situation for which St. Paul would use its own drones.
The public can hear about the St. Paul Police Department’s plan to purchase drones — and provide feedback about proposed policy — at meetings this week and next and an upcoming city council meeting. Allowing the opportunity for public comment is required before a law enforcement agency purchases a drone under state law, which the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota helped get passed in 2020.
Drone videos can be viewed in real-time by law enforcement, which “goes a long way in increasing both public and officer safety when we have that eyeball in the sky,” said St. Paul Police Senior Cmdr. Brad Hazelett.
State law also regulates when police need to get a search warrant to use a drone and more. That law, “in our opinion, should be used as the floor and cities should be able to build on that floor and provide greater protections,” said Munira Mohamed, ACLU-MN policy associate.
Drones ‘spreading’ across state
The law also requires law enforcement agencies to file reports about its use of drones, or unmanned aircraft systems. In the most recent report published last June with 2021 data, there were 76 agencies that provided information.
“Drones are spreading … across the state, so I’m not surprised St. Paul is doing this,” Mohamed said.
For the past two to three years, St. Paul has been relying on neighboring agencies with drones for help during searches for armed suspects, Hazelett said. The Ramsey, Dakota, Washington, Anoka and Hennepin county sheriff’s offices have drones, as do a number of suburban law enforcement agencies.
The drones do work similar to the Minnesota State Patrol helicopter, but the helicopter is often in high demand by law enforcement agencies, said St. Paul Police Cmdr. Ryan Murphy.
Drones by law enforcement are “99 percent reactive,” Murphy said. “We’ve got a suspect we’re looking to locate or a missing kid or missing vulnerable adult.”
If a suspect is found running in someone’s backyard, in some instances instead of putting out an arrest team or a K-9, police could use the built-in speaker on a drone to announce, “You’re under arrest. You’re surrounded now. Walk out from behind the garage to the front of the house,” for example, according to Murphy. That could deescalate a tense situation and “they can give up without having force being used or other tactics that would potentially endanger the suspect, the officers or the general public,” Murphy added.
Use of drones would have to be approved by a department supervisor and would only be flown by people who’ve received training.
“The frequency is about the same as you would see a K-9 search in the city or the State Patrol helicopter,” Murphy said.
Police asking for feedback
Drones have become less expensive as technology has progressed, Murphy said. The police department plans to use funds already in its budget and they’re looking at purchasing five drones to start with. The consumer-level drones that law enforcement uses cost $300 for small ones, about $5,500 for a medium size and $14,000 for a large, all-weather drone, of which St. Paul police plans to get one.
The St. Paul police department has worked on its draft policy with the mayor’s office, city council members and community leaders. After the public meetings, the department plans to finalize the policy in May.
One area of input police are seeking is how long they should keep drone video that doesn’t have evidentiary value. State law requires it be deleted no longer than seven days from collection.
Police are also asking for feedback about whether they should record from the time the drone takes off or starting when the subject of a search is located and until they’re taken into custody.
Most state use in ’21 was for training or public relations
Minnesota law prohibits law enforcement agencies from using drones with facial recognition or with weapons; the law also says they can’t use a drone “to collect data on public protests or demonstrations unless expressly authorized by a warrant or an exception applies.”
Police are required to get a search warrant to use a drone, except in nine exceptions defined by state law, such as “over a public event where there is a heightened risk to the safety of participants or bystanders,” to “collect information from a public area if there is reasonable suspicion of criminal activity” and “to collect information for crash reconstruction purposes after a serious or deadly collision occurring on a public road.”
In 2021, of 2,265 instances reported to the state by law enforcement agencies of using a drone without a search warrant, 23 percent said it was for emergency situations that involve “the risk of death or bodily harm to a person” and 46 percent was “over a public area for employee training or public relations purposes.”
Mohamed said she sees the nine exceptions in the law as “allowing so much discretion for police.”
The Safety Not Surveillance Coalition coordinated with the ACLU last year when Minneapolis police sought input on acquiring drones. The coalition’s recommendations, which Mohamed said people could also apply in St. Paul, included:
- Asking for more city council meetings on the topic.
- Increasing restrictions on use.
- Narrowing the scope of “emergency situations.”
- Prohibiting drones from being used at protests/public demonstrations protected by the First Amendment.
- Having regular policy reviews.
St. Paul police drone policy comment
Community meetings about how St. Paul police plans to use drones and proposed drone policy are scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at the police department’s Western District office, 389 N. Hamline Ave., and 6 p.m. Thursday, April 20, at the Eastern District office, 722 Payne Ave.
The topic is not yet scheduled for public comment during a city council meeting.
People can view the proposed policy and find a link to submit feedback online at stpaul.gov/uas.
