Community groups have mixed reaction to Hamilton police drones amid privacy concerns

Community groups and leaders have mixed feelings about how Hamilton Police Service (HPS) uses drones amid concerns from researchers and Ontario's former privacy commissioner.

Their comments come after a CBC Hamilton investigation revealed details about when, how and why police use drones.

It prompted privacy researchers to point out "red flags" in the program including a lack of transparency and gaps in its privacy impact assessment.

The former privacy commissioner also said HPS should halt its program and the current commissioner should launch a province-wide investigation into how police use drones.

The Equity Network, a local advocacy group, said HPS ought to have consulted the public before launching its drone program.

"It is audacious that the police feel they should be amplifying their surveillance tactics without acknowledging and addressing that marginalized communities already feel unsafe because of over surveillance," the group said in an email.

"This use of power raises so many more questions … this lack of transparency and additional technology is another way to further dehumanize those who are already marginalized in the community."

HPS previously said it didn't do a public consultation because police and fire services around the world already use drones.

"That's ludicrous," said Kojo Damptey, former executive director Hamilton Centre For Civic Inclusion (HCCI).

Police board is 'underperforming,' advocate says

Privacy researchers interviewed previously by CBC Hamilton said the use of drones may impact the privacy of bystanders and community members, and discourage protesters.

Damptey, who has been a part of numerous local demonstrations on issues such as climate change and anti-racism, said drones won't stop him from attending protests, but there should be more transparency from police, especially given the distrust from racialized communities.

"It really speaks to the lack of accountability from police institutions and also a lack of oversight from bodies that are supposed to be overseeing how police forces carry out their work," Damptey said.

"The police board is hugely under performing when it comes to oversight of HPS."

Damptey pointed out how HPS recently introduced the use of licence plate scanners and in-car cameras, which combined with the drone program, "accelerates the amount of surveillance on people who are always out there speaking on issues."

Koubra Haggar, programs manager at HCCI, echoed Damptey's comments.

She added the police services board should take action, pointing out how the police service didn't follow its own privacy impact assessment when launching the drone program. For instance, HPS said it would create a page on its website about the drone program before the program's launch in 2021 — it did so only after questions from CBC about its absence earlier this year.

"It's very important to address these concerns," Haggar said.

Walk group welcomes drone use

Melissa Kelly, who leads the Keep Women Safe Walk group, said the benefits of using drones outweighs the potential invasion of privacy.

Kelly formed her group after a string of assaults against women on local trails last year.

She said she worries the number of assaults on trails is underreported and says using drones to help with investigations would be a positive, so long as there's signs informing the public drones are being used. 

"If I have a drone flying over, making sure I'm safe, I'm OK with that," she said.

"Being a mother to a daughter, if something happened and she was to go missing and that was a tool that could be used to find her, I would definitely welcome it."

HPS used drones several times over the past year while searching for missing residents, including 80-year-old Shirley Love and 71-year-old Roger Bissonnette, though it's unclear how much drones helped search efforts. Love was found dead in December; Bissonnette was found alive a few months earlier in July. 

Haggar acknowledges there are legitimate uses for drones, but still thinks there are valid concerns about the HPS program.

"The tools themselves are not necessarily evil. The way in which they are used and the focus they're used for is where the concerns come from," she said.