New York government agencies are expanding their use of drones beyond emergency situations to boost their surveillance capabilities with few legal limits on other uses, such as weaponization, according to a report from the New York Civil Liberties Union exclusively obtained by Bloomberg Government.
There were at least 876 drones registered by state and local entities with the Federal Aviation Administration in 2024—a 65% increase from 2022, according to the report. The civil-liberties group based the report on information received from public records requests to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Law enforcement agencies in the Empire State deploy the majority ...