The Portland Police Bureau’s pilot project for small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS’s, or drones) is ending, and the program is approved to continue with expanded use cases that align with state law.

On Wednesday, September 4, 2024, the Portland City Council unanimously approved PPB’s use of existing funding to expand the bureau’s drone program. The vote came after an August 28, 2024 presentation by the supervisor of the PPB sUAS program, Sergeant Jim DeFrain. His presentation included a summary of the pilot project, lessons learned, progress made, and recommendations for expansion of the program. The presentation also included example videos of effective law enforcement use of drones. You can view the eight-minute presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/live/gwaTxEkH_HQ?si=6Is2O8EXeJp74Yz2&t=6315

“I am grateful to the City Council members for their support of this program to bring us in line with state law and our law enforcement partners,” said Chief Bob Day. “The new policy will increase efficiency, and allow us to resolve incidents more quickly, safer, with less risk to the public and less risk the officers. I want to recognize that anytime we step into the space of technology and law enforcement that there be a high degree of oversight and accountability. I pledge that we will continue to be transparent with how we are deploying this equipment by continuing to update the drone dashboard on our website.”

PPB drones are exact or slightly modified versions of commercially available products and will be clearly marked with City of Portland or Portland Police logo (photo).

PPB’s drone program began with a pilot project, limited in scope, which was approved by the City Council on April 5, 2023. PPB aimed to increase community safety and reduce time spent on calls, while respecting privacy rights of victims, suspects, the broader community, and the criminal justice system. Before launching the pilot, PPB worked closely with the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, the Bureau of Equity and Human Rights, and Smart City PDX to refine the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and ultimately release a Privacy Impact Assessment that was submitted to council prior to their vote.

During the pilot, drones were utilized by two units within the bureau’s Specialized Resources Division (SRD): Traffic Division and the Metro Explosive Disposal Unit. Other members within SRD were trained as detached pilots under the supervision of those units during the pilot project.

The Traffic Division used drones to:

* Document scenes of Major Crash Team activations/investigations

* Document post-crash vehicle damage

* Provide drone support during Search and Rescue Operations

The Metro Explosive Disposal Unit used drones to:

* Quickly gather information on suspicious items from a distance

* Search immediate area for secondary devices

* Confirm location of items after an operation to render a suspicious device safe

* Provide drone support during tactical events

* Provide immediate support during disasters, such as building collapse, etc.

During the pilot phase of the project, PPB established an drone dashboard which includes an interactive data visualization designed for ease of use and transparency. The interactivity allows users to filter the information based on the questions they are hoping to answer. For example, users can filter by flight types. The most common use is exigent circumstances (e.g. the Metro Explosive Disposal Unit gathering information from a safe distance, searching immediate area for secondary explosive devices, or providing support for patrol searching for armed suspects). The dashboard will continue to be updated and is available here: https://www.portland.gov/police/open-data/uascalls

In addition to the interactive map, source data can be downloaded directly from the dashboard. Available data includes date and time of call, neighborhood and block address, call type and priority, and whether a single or multiple drones were deployed. The dashboard also details the circumstance or unit in which the drone was used. The dashboard is updated on the 15th of each month.

Over the last 14 months, PPB has trained and certified 16 pilots from the Specialized Resources Division and purchased 19 drones, including three that are capable of flight in Portland rain and wind. PPB flew an average of about nine missions a month, primarily in support of the Traffic Division Major Crash Team, the Special Emergency Reaction Team, and assisting patrol during searches for armed suspects. Many of these missions resulted in significant savings of time, resources, and inconvenience to the public.

While the pilot project provided an excellent opportunity to establish training, skills, and culture, PPB’s intentional restrictions on use presented some issues and lessons along the way. One such incident involved a shooting suspect armed with an AR-15 rifle running from police through a neighborhood. Drones were able to assist with the search and capture of the suspect, who had discarded his weapon in an unknown location. Tactical officers believed the rifle could be on a roof and asked for drone assistance to find the weapon and remove it from the neighborhood. However, as the suspect was in custody, drone use was no longer allowed by SOP, and officers spent hours combing the area for the gun.

In other instances, Detectives investigating violent crimes have inquired about using drones for diagraming or documentation of a perishable scene, but our pilot project only allowed for traffic-related crime scene processing, so these requests were denied. Additionally, PPB conducts many successful stolen vehicle missions, street racing interdictions, and other crime suppression missions within the city, where stops often result in suspects eluding into residential neighborhoods. Prior to these missions, supervisors requested drone support to assist in the safe apprehension of these suspects. Those requests were denied as they were not specifically part of our pilot project guidelines. As the project wound down, PPB again worked with our partner bureaus and Smart City PDX to produce an expansion plan and update of our Privacy Impact Assessment that reflects those changes.

The expansion authorized use cases are derived directly from current Oregon state law on police drone use. Oregon Revised Statute 837.300 ( https://www.oreonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors837.html ) provides comprehensive direction to police agencies on permitted uses, warrant requirements, and data policies. That removes room for confusion and brings PPB in line with our law enforcement agency partners.

PPB’s SOP is also in alignment with limitations in ORS 837. The law prohibits police drone equipment from:

* Conducting random or indiscriminate mass surveillance activities

* Targeting a person based solely on individual characteristics, such as, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, economic source or status, housing status, gender, or sexual orientation

* Harassing, intimidating, or discriminating against any individual or group

* Conducting personal business of any type

* Using it for crowd control / crowd management, unless a life safety critical incident occurs

* The sUAS shall not be weaponized (ORS 837.365) and will not be used in conjunction with any type of facial recognition technology.

Expansion will also allow for trained patrol personnel to respond immediately instead of our current system of paging pilots from home, reducing time and increasing odds of safer outcomes for all involved. It also revises policy to allow support for stolen vehicle missions, street racing missions, organized retail theft missions, and many other initiatives that improve our ability to safely respond to these dynamic events. It expands crime scene processing for the Detective Division as large outdoor crime scenes can often be mapped and comprehensively documented in less time using a drone.

Operating this equipment within a large population center next to an international airport requires significant training, good decision making, and pilot skill. In addition to initial training certifications, our pilots are required to attend regular sustainment and maintain minimum flight hours. This expansion will allow PPB to support requests from other city service areas to provide trained drone pilots for missions throughout the region, such as watershed surveys, disaster site and damage evaluations, fire scene triage, and bridge inspections, just to name a few.

Source: Portland Police Bureau

Cort Webber