For about an hour at a Public Safety Committee Meeting, Syracuse's First Deputy Police Chief Richard Shoff faced questions from Syracuse Common Council members about the department’s proposed Drone as First Responder, or DFI, program.
Shoff said drones can help deescalate tensions or provide better situational awareness.
"We can use it to go over wooded areas that are hard to see. There's thermal imaging on it, where if there was a lost person or a missing child, anything along those lines, you can see that on a heat map,” Shoff said.
Councilor-at-large Chol Majok was one of several committee members to express concerns about privacy.
"Houses are so close together,” he said. “If you are hovering above, you could be recording the next door neighbor who is sunbathing, and (police) have no business with the next door neighbor."
Department officials said drones will not be looking down as they are flying to their locations, and they will zoom in on the specific areas of concern.
District five councilor Jimmy Monto said he also worries about the security of the data that’s collected.
"I also think I'm concerned because nothing's hack proof these days, so I get worried about us having data of people not doing anything wrong," he said.
Shoff said he plans to add new language to the proposal and go over it with the Common Council again. He also said this is a pilot program, so it will be reviewed in a year, and any concerns can also be addressed then.
