“If the council says that they don’t want to move forward and the public say they don’t want to move forward then I’m not going to do something that’s opposed to what the council and the public wants,” Batista told host Hank Stolz.
The ultimate decision about the drone lies with Batista, according to city policy.
The policy for Worcester’s police drone, which has sparked debate among city councilors over civil liberties concerns and the city’s treatment of the homeless population, has been updated based on the recommendations of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, according to a letter from Batista to the council.
The point of contention on the policy related specifically to the drone being used to assist the city’s Quality of Life team when searching for homeless encampments. When city councilors asked for specific language to protect against the drones following the city’s unhoused population, the police department initially said it could but then walked that back saying specific language could “handcuff” them in their response to emergencies.
District 4 City Councilor Sarai Rivera requested a week-long hold on an item calling for the City Council’s support of the drone proposal last week after finding out the Police Chief Steven Sargent and Batista had not met with a member of the ACLU.
In letter dated June 14, Batista said he met with Emiliano Falcon-Morano of the ACLU of Massachusetts along with Assistant City Manager Nicole Valentine, Sargent and Deputy Police Chief Paul Saucier.
The meeting resulted in seven changes to the policy, including defining exigent circumstances as circumstances that are of such urgency as to justify a warrantless entry, search or seizure by police when a warrant would usually be required.
Another addition to the police was adding the phrase, “nor to harass, intimidate or discriminate against any individual group or group,” to the sentence, “collection, use, dissemination or retention of UAS-recorded data shall not be based on individual characteristics (e.g. race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age or gender).”
Batista wrote in his letter that the drone would be “utilized in a responsible and transparent manager in order to maintain the public’s privacy and trust.”
Part of maintaining the trust includes receiving quarterly reports to his office documenting the use of the drone, reports, that he says will be available to the public.
Batista also said the drone will not be used to track unsheltered individuals, it would only be authorized in emergency situations to gain an aerial perspective.
In a letter to Batista, Sargent said there is a clear need for the drone, specifically because the department currently uses drones from other departments which eats up their emergency response time since the drone has to be transported from outside towns.
“We are keenly aware of concerns that have been raised regarding unsheltered individuals,” Sargent wrote. “Our department does not intend on using the technology to identify or locate unsheltered individuals.”
The council will vote on its support for the drone at its meeting Tuesday night.
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