The ordinance would require that any police purchase or use of drones in the city would have to get council approval first. The Seattle City Council is considering a similar ordinance.
"I think that as technology advances and surveillance advances and if other cities have had this problem, it's better to have this protection in place versus waiting for it to happen and then us be upset about police drones above us," Stuckart said in a Public Safety Committee meeting today.
Police Chief Frank Straub reassured the committee of council members that his department isn't eying drone technology now. But many people in law enforcement are considering the convenience and cost-effectiveness of drones compared to helicopters for police use, he said. (We wrote about this issue in the region last summer.)
"Someday there will be a police chief sitting here before the council saying, 'We need to go with a drone instead of a helicopter,'" Straub told the committee.
Stuckart says he expects the ordinance to get a full Council vote in early July.
