A red background with an illustration of a police drone.
Credit: Jeff Haynes / Signal Cleveland

After a brief foray into the skies over Cleveland, the police department has grounded its drone operation until a policy for using the technology is approved by federal officials. 

The department deployed a drone on Nov. 24 as demonstrators gathered outside of County Executive Chris Ronayne’s house to protest the county’s investment in Israel Bonds.

Just days earlier, the Cleveland Community Police Commission (CPC) had approved a draft policy that would allow police to operate drones. Before approving it, however, the commission removed language suggested by the police department that would have allowed using drones to monitor “individuals or groups within large gatherings or for crowd control.” 

The new policy had not yet been approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is the current practice under the consent decree, when police used the drone over Ronayne’s house.

Cleveland’s consent decree
The consent decree is an agreement between Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice that requires police reforms. It came after a federal investigation that found a “pattern and practice” of police officers violating the rights of residents and using excessive force. The city and the federal government signed the agreement in 2015. 

“We are encouraged that Chief [Dorothy] Todd has committed to stop using drones until the police commission, the Monitoring Team and the Department of Justice have signed off on a final policy,” said Piet van Lier, chair of the CPC’s Police Policy Committee, in a statement to Signal Cleveland Friday. 

On Monday, a police spokesperson confirmed to Signal Cleveland that “implementation of the drone program will be paused.”

The approved policy prohibits drone use to conduct surveillance of large gatherings or crowds unless “exigent circumstances” require it. The policy allows drone use in certain contexts, including:

  • Mass casualty incidents, such as a mass shooting or a burning building
  • Disaster management
  • Missing persons incidents
  • Rescue operations
CPC approved drone policyDownload

In its statement, the commission said it revised the police department’s draft of the policy due to the concerns of “a surveillance technology expert” the CPC consulted and residents who spoke at the commission’s Nov. 20 meeting. 

“Our goal is to protect the constitutional rights and the safety of Cleveland residents by ensuring drones, and other surveillance technology, are used in ways that comply with rights spelled out in the U.S. Constitution and all other relevant laws, restrictions and regulations,” van Lier said in the statement.

Managing Editor (she/her)
I foster civic and accountability reporting that is inspired by and responsive to community questions, curiosity and demand so Clevelanders have the opportunities they deserve to understand and participate in local democracy and build power.

Associate Editor and Director of the Editors’ Bureau (he/him)
Important stories are hiding everywhere, and my favorite part of journalism has always been the collaboration, working with colleagues to find the patterns in the information we’re constantly gathering. I don’t care whose name appears in the byline; the work is its own reward. As Batman said to Commissioner Gordon in “The Dark Knight,” “I’m whatever Gotham needs me to be.”