NYPD Drone Flights Surge 3,200% as Watchdog Warns of Unchecked Surveillance

The New York Police Department conducted 6,546 drone flights in the first six months of 2025, representing a 3,200% increase since 2022, according to a new report by civil rights watchdog Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.).

The explosive growth raises serious questions about privacy, safety, and transparency as the NYPD deploys 4.7-pound Skydio drones over crowds with minimal public accountability.

Program Exploded Under “Drone Czar” Leadership

The NYPD’s drone program launched in 2023 under Kaz Daughtry, then-assistant NYPD commissioner and current deputy mayor for public safety, who describes himself as the department’s “drone czar” according to his LinkedIn profile.

The numbers tell a stark story. In the first six months of 2024, the NYPD conducted 647 drone flights. By the same period in 2025, that number had skyrocketed to 6,546 flights.

The city officially launched its “drone as first responder” program in November 2024, with Mayor Eric Adams proclaiming “drones are the future of public safety.”

Vague Justifications Hide True Purpose

The S.T.O.P. report warns the program has “rapidly morphed into a sprawling surveillance operation” that poses safety and privacy risks to residents.

Research director Eleni Manis says 632 of the roughly 6,500 flights fall under a vague category described as “Public safety, emergency, or other situation with the approval of the Chief of Department.”

“We don’t know how many of them are responses to 911 calls compared to simply patrolling the city,” Manis told StateScoop. “It gives police an opportunity to intervene, to police small infractions, minor violations that they wouldn’t otherwise police.”

The watchdog group began investigating after the NYPD used drones to monitor “No Kings” protests in October 2025, leading them to examine the department’s mandated quarterly drone reports.

Safety Risks and Beyond-Line-of-Sight Operations

The report highlights physical safety concerns beyond privacy violations. In May 2025, an NYPD drone crashed on a Brooklyn roof and caught fire after its lithium-ion battery was ejected from the impact.

While firefighters contained the blaze with damage limited to the drone itself, Manis says the incident “illustrated a larger safety issue.”

The report also notes the hazard of flying drones beyond officer line of sight, “a practice that she said increases the risk of collisions, especially with the large number of drones now flying over the city.”

Policy Violations and Protest Surveillance

The NYPD’s most recent policy, published in December 2024, forbids using drones to replace routine foot patrols. Yet Manis worries that images captured during emergency responses make it easier for police to monitor daily life and minor infractions in already over-policed communities.

The department has already demonstrated willingness to push boundaries. As DroneXL previously reported, the NYPD flew Skydio drones over the “No Kings” march in October 2025, raising concerns about flying heavy aircraft over crowds and using drones for protest surveillance.

“Monitoring a large event really chills freedom of expression,” Manis said. “The NYPD used drone footage to identify and arrest protesters last year, and that’s nothing if not a reason for protesters to worry about.”

Incoming Administration Faces Reform Pressure

The report urges the NYPD to limit drone use to emergency scenarios and fully disclose the purpose of each flight with specific justifications rather than vague approvals by the police chief.

The department announced plans to launch a public website displaying flight information, but S.T.O.P. says it should include all city agency drone flights and their purposes in compliance with the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology Act, which the department has been scrutinized for not complying with.

Manis says Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani’s incoming administration has “an opportunity to change how the NYPD is permitting to use the technology, especially regarding its impacts to civil rights and the chilling effect on freedom of expression.”

The report comes after advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have raised alarms about the proliferation of “drones as first responder” programs. The Washington Post reported in August that hundreds of law enforcement agencies have established such programs, with the number expected to keep rising.

DroneXL’s Take

This story represents a troubling escalation in government surveillance technology deployed with minimal transparency or accountability. The 3,200% increase in NYPD drone flights didn’t happen by accident – it’s the result of deliberate policy choices by officials who believe drones are “the future of public safety” without adequately considering the constitutional implications.

The numbers are staggering, but the real concern lies in the vague justifications. When 632 flights fall under categories as broad as “public safety, emergency, or other situation with the approval of the Chief of Department,” the potential for mission creep becomes inevitable. As Manis correctly notes, this creates opportunities for police to monitor minor infractions they wouldn’t otherwise pursue – precisely the kind of low-level surveillance that disproportionately impacts over-policed communities.

DroneXL previously reported on the NYPD’s decision to fly 4.7-pound Skydio X10 drones over the “No Kings” protest march in October 2025. That incident violated the department’s own policies against routine surveillance and created genuine safety risks by flying heavy aircraft over crowds. The fact that this surveillance occurred during a political protest – and that footage was used to identify and arrest protesters – demonstrates exactly the chilling effect on First Amendment rights that civil liberties groups have warned about.

The choice of equipment matters too. The NYPD relies heavily on Skydio drones, the American manufacturer that has benefited enormously from Blue UAS favoritism and anti-Chinese drone sentiment in Washington. While Skydio makes capable aircraft, they’re significantly more expensive than alternatives and have become the default choice for government agencies thanks to lobbying efforts rather than purely technical merit. This ties into broader patterns DroneXL has documented around surveillance technology procurement where vendor relationships and political considerations often trump operational needs and civil liberties concerns.

The May 2025 crash that caused a lithium-ion battery fire should have triggered immediate program review. Instead, the NYPD continued its exponential expansion. Compare this to the scrutiny faced by civilian drone operators for far less serious incidents, and the double standard becomes obvious.

The incoming Mamdani administration has a genuine opportunity to course-correct. The recommendations from S.T.O.P. are reasonable: limit drone use to genuine emergencies, require specific justifications for each flight, and comply with the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology Act that the NYPD has already been accused of violating. These aren’t radical proposals – they’re basic accountability measures that should have been in place from day one.

The “drones as first responder” concept has legitimate applications for genuine emergencies – structure fires, search and rescue, active shooter situations. But when a program explodes from 647 flights to 6,546 flights in one year with minimal explanation of what those flights actually accomplished, we’re no longer talking about emergency response. We’re talking about normalized aerial surveillance of American cities.

The NYPD needs to answer basic questions: How many of these 6,546 flights involved genuine emergencies versus routine patrol? How many led to arrests, and for what offenses? How is footage stored, accessed, and eventually deleted? Who has access to this aerial surveillance data? These aren’t hostile questions – they’re the minimum inquiries citizens should expect when their government deploys thousands of surveillance flights over their heads.

What do you think? Do you trust the NYPD with 6,000+ flights a year? Share your thoughts in the comments below.