Over a year after public outcry led the Seattle Police Department to promise to return its two drones to their manufacturer, the drones remain in its possession, albeit grounded.
The Seattle PD purchased two Draganflyer X-6 Helicopter Tech unmanned aerial vehicles for $82,000 in 2010, funded by grants from the Department of Homeland Security. Neither the city council nor the public knew of the police drone program until a 2012 lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation over the department’s application for operation certificates from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2010.
The EFF lawsuit revealed that Seattle police received Urban Area Security Initiative funding from DHS not only to buy the drones, but to pay for UAV flight training and ground school for police officers. Both of those training programs are required to receive FAA certification. The resulting public outcry over the lawsuit forced the mayor to pull the plug on the program in February 2013.
“It was time to end the unmanned aerial vehicle program, so that SPD can focus its resources on public safety and the community building work that is the department's priority," the mayor said to the media at the time. “The vehicles will be returned to the vendor.”
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