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The Age of the Drone Police Is Here
A WIRED investigation, based on more than 22 million flight coordinates, reveals the complicated truth about the first full-blown police drone program in the US—and why your city could be next.
It flew northwest at 392 feet above the southwestern border town, a suburb of San Diego, passing near a preschool and a church, then near a financial services center used by Chula Vista’s immigrant communities to send money to their families. Last year, researchers at the Carceral Ecologies Lab at UCLA found that, based on an analysis of flight data, Los Angeles police flew helicopters more often over Black and Latine neighborhoods at lower altitudes—even when controlling for income and other variables. Maggi Baker, another west side resident and a volunteer with South Bay People Power who helps immigrants find housing and medical care, says the city’s array of surveillance gear—drones as well as license plate readers—makes her uneasy.
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