NYPD drones have spotted and tracked seven sharks off New York City beaches this summer, one fewer than the eight the police department recorded during all of last summer. The aircraft fly daily patrols at four city beaches during lifeguard hours, giving crews on shore another view of the water.
Rockaway Beach has recorded 45 shark-related closures this beach season, compared with 24 at the same point last summer. Those closures do not prove that the water suddenly holds twice as many sharks. They show what happens when a clear safety protocol gets a persistent camera feed from above.
Seven Sharks Put the Radio Protocol to Work
The patrol sends a drone roughly 100 yards (91 meters) offshore while officers watch a wide camera view for dark silhouettes. Operators zoom in to distinguish a shark from dolphins, skates, or schools of fish, then radio lifeguards with its location, direction, and distance from shore.
Detective Jorge Bravo described that handoff in on-scene reporting from CBS News New York: “If we do spot a shark swimming in the water, we get on our radios and immediately notify the lifeguards.”
The department flies at Rockaway Beach in Queens, Orchard Beach in the Bronx, South Beach on Staten Island, and Coney Island in Brooklyn. Bravo said Rockaway has produced the most shark activity since the NYPD began these patrols three years ago.
Rockaway’s Closure Count Climbs From 24 to 45
Rockaway Beach has had 45 closures tied to shark sightings so far this season, all at that beach, according to Parks Department figures reported by WABC. At the same point in 2025, the beach had recorded 24, making the current count 21 closures higher.
The Parks Department protocol detailed by ABC7 New York begins with a one-hour closure extending half a mile (0.8 kilometers) in each direction after a reported sighting. Aerial confirmation expands that zone to one mile (1.6 kilometers) in each direction for at least an hour. A confirmed group of sharks closes the entire beach.
The water remains closed for at least one hour after the last confirmed sighting, or until an aerial check finds no sharks. The city’s official Notify NYC account warned residents about intermittent Rockaway Beach closures after multiple sightings on July 2.
Three Seasons Turned Patrols Into a Daily Routine
The operation now follows a repeatable daily workflow, but DroneXL’s earlier reporting shows how the mission developed in public. The coverage moved through an imperfect warning system, wildlife conflicts near the beach, and a broader rescue role without pretending that the aircraft could remove every risk.
DroneXL’s August 2023 report covered a shark bite at Rockaway Beach and the NYPD aerial search that followed. In July 2024, DroneXL reported territorial shorebirds approaching the patrol aircraft, forcing operators to account for nesting areas.
By July 2025, DroneXL was covering drone-dropped flotation devices at Rockaway Beach. The current aircraft can carry a compact Restube that inflates on contact with the water and supports swimmers until lifeguards arrive.
Beachgoers Treat the Drone as a Safety Tool
Beachgoers and surfers interviewed at Rockaway described the warnings as useful rather than intrusive. Their comments did not erase the privacy questions that follow police aircraft, but they showed how a narrow, visible mission can produce a different public reaction from open-ended surveillance.
Brooklyn resident Steve Haller reached for the movie everyone knows: “We have all seen ‘Jaws’ and we know what the nightmares are in that scenario.”
Surfer Mike Zuska told CBS that a thresher shark had passed between him and another surfer two weeks earlier. He stayed calm, alerted the other surfers, and let it pass. “It’s their house,” he said.
The NYPD says the patrol is meant to provide information, not to keep everyone out of the water. That distinction matters. A confirmed location and direction gives lifeguards something more useful than a rumor moving down the beach.
DroneXL’s Take
My read is simple: this is what a defensible police drone mission looks like. The aircraft has a defined place, a defined schedule, and a direct handoff to lifeguards. Its job is to look at the water, identify a hazard, and make the radio call faster.
The closure numbers need careful reading. Forty-five closures versus 24 does not establish that shark numbers nearly doubled. The city added an aerial sensor to a written response protocol, so more confirmed sightings can produce more closures even when the underlying animal population is unknown. Better detection changes the count before it tells us whether the risk changed.
That does not settle every privacy argument around NYPD drones. It does show why mission boundaries matter. A camera used to track swimmers or sharks offshore is easier to evaluate than a general promise that police will use aerial surveillance responsibly. Keep this mission narrow, publish the flight and closure data, and let the results make the case.
Sources: CBS News New York, ABC7 New York, and NYC Emergency Management’s Notify NYC account.
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.
