The New Orleans Police Department must share public reports about its drone use, the City Council has decided in a move some community groups say is too soft on the department’s growing use of the technology.

The council on Thursday unanimously backed an ordinance that requires the department to provide quarterly reports on drone flights. The vote came months after members in April approved the launch of a new remote-piloted police drone in the French Quarter and after the police department loosened regulations on its use of drones in July.

The NOPD’s July 1 policy removed a required quarterly review of drone use by the department’s Professional Standards and Accountability Bureau.

“What we’re trying to see is: Are the drones being used properly and are they producing the impact that NOPD says they will?” said Council Vice President Matt Willard before the council’s Thursday vote.

But some civil liberties advocates say that additional measures are needed to prevent improper use of the technology.

Sarah Whittington, advocacy director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said that while the council ordinance mostly solves for the loosened reporting requirement in the new NOPD policy, the council should also require the NOPD to share information about the drones’ flight path.

Edith Romero, director of Eye on Surveillance, a coalition of New Orleans organizations and community members concerned about surveillance and public safety, said at an Aug. 5 council committee meeting that the NOPD should also be required to share reporting on the demographics of people tracked with drones, and to create a mechanism for public complaints.

Her organization also called on the council to add a penalty if NOPD fails to follow the new reporting requirements.

“We can’t trust NOPD,” Romero said.

In a statement Tuesday, an NOPD spokesperson said that the department “will adhere to and enforce all ordinances enacted by the City Council, including in this regard.”

Drone as first responder

The backlash comes as the police department continues to pursue a further expansion of its Drone As First Responder program.

The NOPD won narrow approval for the purchase of one $250,000 drone and docking station from a divided council in April using funding allocated by the French Quarter Management District. Supporters have argued that the drone, which can be deployed remotely in response to 911 calls, would allow officers to respond more quickly to emergencies. The department’s existing nine-drone fleet needs to be operated by two pilots on-site and is typically used during major events or as part of crime-scene investigations.

An NOPD spokesperson said in a statement that the Drone As First Responder “planning process remains active and will be evaluated as it is utilized to determine any possible expansion.”

The drone approved in April has not yet launched as the department awaits necessary equipment, NOPD officials said.

The city’s police department also drew public outcry in June when it published a revision to its 2024 that allowed drones to be equipped with weapons. The policy was a “draft policy and had not been officially adopted,” the department said.

The policy published by the police department on July 1 prohibited the use of weapons.

Another change that has drawn pushback allows the department to use drones to assist outside agencies without a formal agreement, as was required under its previous policy.

“Is it Troop NOLA, is it ICE, is it the National Guard?” said Whittington in an interview. “We won’t know.”

Flight records

Whittington said that council oversight of the NOPD’s drone usage is particularly necessary because records indicate that the NOPD failed to adhere to previous documentation requirements under the 2024 policy.

In a letter to council members on July 24, Whittington shared an analysis of 1,000 flight records obtained by the ACLU through a public records request. The records, which covered drone deployments from Jan. 1, 2025 through Jan. 24, 2026, show that 94% of the flight logs are missing the required summary of activities and supervisor approval and that 78% of the flight logs are missing the type of incident.

In a statement Tuesday, the NOPD said that the information “may not be shown as complete” because staff are currently in the process of copying hard copy reports into a digital system.

“This process is currently ongoing and can be time consuming,” NOPD officials said in a statement.

Asked about criticisms of the council’s move, Willard said the council has “a responsibility to ensure the right guardrails are in place so the public knows how these tools are being used.”

Councilmember Lesli Harris, who voted against the ordinance to purchase a new drone in April, said in a committee meeting last week that she is “against the use of drones in law enforcement.”

“But we are using them — so I think these guardrails are important,” Harris said.

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