Hamilton police ask for more drones, as calls for public consultation go unaddressed
Concerns from Ontario's former privacy commissioner and researchers not mentioned at Thursday board meeting
After questions in recent weeks about how Hamilton Police Services (HPS) uses drones, the service faced its board members Thursday to share more information about its eyes in the sky.
But police and its board members discussed the technology only briefly, despite concerns voiced by researchers, community groups, the Ontario New Democrats and Ontario's former privacy commissioner over the HPS drone program.
Instead, a report from Hamilton police to the board said the service needs more drones, because it's been borrowing drones from the local fire department and Mohawk College.
The update to the police services board follows reporting from CBC Hamilton which 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.
Ontario's former privacy commissioner also criticized the program and said if she was still in charge, she'd launch a province-wide investigation and ask the police service to halt its program.
Ontario's New Democrats and local community groups also called for a public consultation — but, as of Thursday, there seemingly won't be one.
Councillors offer mixed reaction to drone use
Board member and Ward 2 Coun. Cameron Kroetsch said Thursday while he believes drones can be helpful for finding missing people or reconstructing car crashes, he doesn't support using drones for surveillance.
"Being surveilled by drones is a very different activity," he said.
"It's not one I'd say the average person is prepared for or understands the nature of."
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He said the feeling of police surveilling someone is "very unsettling" but the idea of drones being used at large events like demonstrations is "even more unsettling."
Ward 7 Coun. Esther Pauls, also a board member, said someone called her about police drones and she didn't even know about them.
But Pauls, whose son is a staff sergeant with the police service, said she supports the use of drones.
"As the public are made aware of it, they'll realize how important this tool is for police to have," she said.
Police report breaks down drone use
The report from police presented to the board shared some new details about why drones are used.
Drones have been deployed 59 times between 2021, when police started using the technology, and May 15, 2023, according to the data.
The most common use for drones was to scan scenes of car crashes, according to the data from police. That accounts for 41 per cent of all flights.
About 17 per cent of the time, drones were deployed for search and rescue.
The stats from police says 20 per cent of the time, the objective was "investigative." The report offers few details about what that means.
Other data from police also there were 10 flights in 2021, 35 flights in 2022 and 14 flights in 2023, as of May 15.
In 2022, just over half of flights accounted for car crash investigations.
In 2023, 10 of its 14 uses were for "investigative" purposes and critical incidents.
Critical incidents include hostage rescues, barricaded people and high risk warrants.
Police tweets indicate some examples of when drones were used between 2021 and 2023 include:
- Numerous car crashes.
- Investigating the scene of a shootout at the Hamilton Cemetery between officers and a gunman who killed a Toronto police officer and a Mississauga, Ont., man.
- A "fake homecoming" street party by McMaster students near the school.
- The search for missing 80-year-old Shirley Love.
- Protests in downtown Hamilton during Trudeau's cabinet retreat.
- The 2023 CFL Grey Cup and 2022 NHL Heritage Classic at Tim Hortons Field.
It's unclear how all of those incidents would've been categorized by police.
When drones helped — and why police want more
In the report to the board, the police highlighted two examples of when drones helped.
In November 2022, police say it asked the fire department to deploy a drone to search for a missing elderly woman with dementia.
Police say she was found in a "heavily brushed area" roughly 400 metres from her home with minor cuts and exposure to the cold.
"The [drone] was able to locate this missing person long before daylight and a ground search and rescue team could be mobilized," read the report.
"More importantly the missing person was located before any significant injuries or hypothermia set in."
Another example was in January 2023 when a fire department drone found a 90-year-old man who went missing on his 100 acre property.
He was found collapsed, the report says.
"Police requested the assistance of the [fire department] to deploy a [drone] to assist with a search due to the unavailability of HPS pilots."
Other benefits, according to police, include:
- Drones help map out car crashes better, which help reopen roads faster.
- Drones give police "real-time situational awareness" during critical incidents and lend to timely decisions during crowd management events.
Hamilton police says its 11 drone pilots and four drones aren't enough, however.
Poor weather conditions also limit drone use, the service sad.
It says with more drones and officers trained as pilots, the service can rely less on Mohawk College and the fire department, not be impeded by weather, and help the police service be more effective.
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