Cleveland Police Drones Take Flight after Delays Kept Them Grounded

CLEVELAND, OH – Cleveland police used drones this month for the first time in almost a year after an official policy governing the use of the devices was approved.

On Aug. 10, police launched multiple drones to keep an eye on the crowds who gathered for an outdoor event featuring rapper-turned-rocker Machine Gun Kelly, according to flight records.

This was the first time police had used them since monitoring a pro-Palestine protest outside the home of Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne in 2024. Police were accused of violating the policy, leading Chief Dorothy Todd to ground the drones until an official policy could be finalized.

Since then, the U.S. Department of Justice cleared the way for the Cleveland Community Police Commission to finish the policy. Federal authorities studied the process because of a consent decree with the city.

“I think we’re finding the right balance that allows legitimate use of this powerful technology, at the same time protecting the civil liberties and rights of people in Cleveland,” said Piet van Lier, who heads the commission’s Police Policy Committee.

Cleveland police’s drone policy also sets an important precedent for the city’s fire and EMS, which also may soon be getting the techology to respond to 911 calls, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reported.

For the Machine Gun Kelly event at Mall C, drones flew over Public Square from 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., taking off and landing at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Public Square, each flight lasting around a half-hour.

The drones stayed several blocks away from the event itself, which was between City Hall and the old Cuyahoga County Courthouse.

Cleveland City Council Safety Committee Chair Mike Polensek has been pushing for the department to begin flying its drones ever since Council initially approved legislation to purchase the technology in February 2022.

“Virtually every suburb has them, and they’ve used them very effectively,” Polensek said in an interview. “We got to get with it here.”

The technology

Cleveland police have nine Skydio X10 drones and seven officers licensed to fly them. The department is hoping to increase the number of pilots to 10, said Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz.

The Skydio X10, which costs between $12,000 to $18,000 per unit depending on the features and supplier, is designed for police and first responders.

It is equipped with a thermal camera and conventional cameras. The drone can fly at night, in the rain and in temperatures as low as -4 degrees, according to Skydio’s website.

Skydio, based in California, claims the X10 can read a license plate from 800 feet away and identify a car from three miles away.

The X10 weighs less than 5 pounds and can deploy “from backpack to flying in under 40 seconds.”

The policy

Cleveland’s drone policy gives broad discretion to officers in charge or incident commanders to deploy drones when they believe there is a public safety risk.

In order to use the device without further approval, a case has to meet one of the following qualifications:

• a mass-casualty event,
• disaster management,
• missing persons/rescue operations,
• hazardous material,
• armed or suicidal suspect,
• an incident in which a suspect flees, barricades or takes a hostage,
• arrest of a dangerous person,
• search warrants involving violent suspects.

The chief of police can also authorize drones to be used as part of a safety plan for outdoor events, such as the Machine Gun Kelly concert earlier this month, the policy says.

The list of pre-approved reasons also leaves some areas open to interpretation. A qualified officer can also deploy the technology in “situations that present an imminent risk to officer and/or public safety” and “scene documentation for evidentiary or investigatory value,” which the policy says includes a crime, collision or use-of-force situation.

When Cleveland police use a drone, they have to report the drone’s flight data to a website (https://cloud.skydio.com/dashboard/clevelandpolice) run by Skydio and available to the public within 48 hours, the policy says.

While the policy says Cleveland police can’t use the drones to monitor protests, it allows the chief to use the devices “over large crowds where there is probable cause that a crime is being committed that would meet the requirements for a warrantless search under the Fourth Amendment.”

The policy sets other limits. Officers can’t use personal drones, only those issued by the department. The devices can’t be outfitted with weapons or facial recognition technology, according to the policy.

The point of crafting a policy was not to micromanage every time a drone is deployed but to make sure the technology’s use wasn’t violating peoples’ constitutional rights.

“Just because we have it doesn’t mean it solves all our problems,” van Lier said. “Policing can and should happen without this particular tool.”

Polensek said the policy restricting police from monitoring protests was “ridiculous” and said he would support the police department if they chose to monitor one anyway.

“As I said to the chief, said to the safety director ... you do what you have to do to protect the citizenry,” Polensek said. “I’d have to rather contend with the ( Community Police Commission) than have to worry about some innocent person being hurt or worse in a protest that goes astray or turns into a violent confrontation.”

As for officers, the drone policy hasn’t been much of a hot topic, said Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association President Andy Gasiewski. The union doesn’t have a strong opinion on the policy yet, and it is waiting for feedback from officers, he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union Ohio, which provided feedback to the police commission as it drafted the policy, believes the policy is a good first step, said Gary Daniels, the group’s legislative director.

However, most police departments don’t have the same public-facing process to crafting policy that Cleveland has. That’s why Daniels said he believes policies alone aren’t enough. There needs to be state and local laws governing the use of drones, he said.

“If the drone policy here in Cleveland was adopted as legislation in the state of Ohio, we would be in a much better place as a state,” Daniels said.

“So hopefully, what we’re seeing is something that all of us here ... can build on, because it’s long past time that we start getting some common sense regulations and restrictions in place.”

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