State Report Reveals Dramatic Increase in Drone Flights Despite Modest Budget Growth
By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill
The state of Minnesota reported that the number of times police agencies in the state deployed drones without a warrant nearly quadrupled over the past four years, from 1,171 such missions in 2020 to 4,326 flights in 2023.
According to data released earlier this month, over the same time period, the amount of money spent on police agency drone programs increased only slightly, from about $922,411 to about $1,065,677.
The annual cost of police agency UAV programs had fallen dramatically in 2022 to about $646,531. However, over the next two years the same costs rose by about 65% to the level seen in 2023.
The latest data is contained in a legislative report, released by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) on the police agencies’ use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the year 2023.
Under state law, beginning in 2020 all of Minnesota’s law enforcement agencies that maintain or use an UAV are required to report the following data to the BCA by January 15 regarding the prior calendar year:
- The number of times a UAV was deployed without a search warrant
- The date of each deployment
- The authorized use for each deployment
- The total cost of the agency’s UAV program.
The BCA had developed a submittal form that enables law enforcement agencies to report data on their UAV usage in a uniform manner, making it easier for lawmakers and the general public to track police drone usage in the state over time.
In its most recent report for the year 2023, the BCA collected data from 99 police and sheriff’s departments and other law enforcement agencies. The report noted that that police agency usage of drones in circumstances where a warrant is not required has risen steadily in the four years that data has been collected.
At about $124,713, the Minnesota State Patrol had the highest-cost drone program in 2023, while the St. Paul Police Department has the second-highest cost program, with $100,000 spent on drones and related equipment.
Why Police are Flying Drones
Of the 4,326 UAV warrantless missions that police agencies in the state in 2023 almost twice as many flights were for training or public relations purposes as those flown in emergency situations.
Last year, the most common purpose given for conducting a warrantless drone flight was “flying over a public area for officer training or public relations purposes.” This was the reason given for a total of 1,986 missions flown. The second most common purpose for warrantless police drone flights, at 1,031 missions, was “during or in the aftermath of an emergency situation that involves the risk of death or bodily harm to a person.”
Other common purposes given for warrantless drone flights were “to collect information for crash reconstruction purposes after a serious or deadly collision occurring on a public road,” 603 missions, and “to collect information from a public area if there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity,” 398 missions.
Less-common purposes for such flights included, “to conduct threat assessment of a specific event,” 47 missions, and “to counter the risk of a terroristic attack by a specific individual or organization if the agency determines that credible intelligence indicates a risk,” which accounted for nine missions.
Mission Trends Remain Consistent
Despite the growth in the number of warrantless missions flown over the past four years, the trend in the reasons given for flying those missions has remained pretty consistent.
For example, in 2020 the highest number of such missions, 506, were flown for training and public relations purposes. The second-highest number of warrantless missions, 352, were flown for emergency situations.
Six warrantless missions, flown in 2020 were for threat assessment, while no anti-terrorism missions were flown that year.
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Jim Magill is a Houston-based writer with almost a quarter-century of experience covering technical and economic developments in the oil and gas industry. After retiring in December 2019 as a senior editor with S&P Global Platts, Jim began writing about emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robots and drones, and the ways in which they’re contributing to our society. In addition to DroneLife, Jim is a contributor to Forbes.com and his work has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, U.S. News & World Report, and Unmanned Systems, a publication of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
While the article sheds light on the escalating use of drones in law enforcement, it overlooks several crucial aspects that significantly impact the true cost and operational effectiveness of these programs.
Firstly, the reported budget figures fail to capture the full spectrum of expenses associated with police drone operations. Beyond the initial equipment costs cited, such as the Minnesota State Patrol’s $124,713 expenditure in 2023, there are substantial ongoing costs not detailed in this article. These include personnel expenses—such as pilot or trooper salaries —as well as expenditures on training, software licenses, and essential support equipment. These “real” costs typically escalate to two or three times the initial equipment outlay, significantly affecting the overall financial burden on taxpayers.
Moreover, while the number of drone flights has increased, the article does not specify the total days or hours flown annually by these agencies. Understanding the utilization rate is crucial for assessing operational efficiency and resource allocation, not including that information is a missed opportunity to proving cost effectiveness.
While the expansion of drone usage in Minnesota law enforcement is noteworthy, the lack of a comprehensive evaluation by including all the associated costs and operational metrics is only “click bait” and doesn’t effectively support these programs.
Transparency is essential for policymakers, taxpayers, and the public to accurately assess the efficacy and value of these programs.
This is only a way police can spy on people an illegally get information on everything they do. The constitution an the bill of rights were put there for a reason, read it again an it needs to taught to kids every needs to be aware of this tyrant behavior… I can say anything is suspicious does this give me power to fly my drone in the cops windows because there breaking the law activity I myself can go look in peoples windows. No it doesn’t give me any reason to do anything, cops break more laws allow there kids to break laws an nothing happens the every cop should be charged with treason for breaking the law an should be prosecuted to the fullest, WE THE PEOPLE!
Jeez check the tinfoil on your head, I think it’s come loose. For every example you come up with that sort of subscribes to your total alarmist breakdown, I could supply half a dozen that saved lives using this tech. Just point of note, you kind of ran out of steam on that last sentence, a bit comical.