An Assessment of NYPD's Compliance with the POST Act
Department of Investigation · report
DOI's Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD assessed the Police Department's compliance with the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act as it applies to unmanned aircraft systems (drones). OIG-NYPD reviewed the two Impact and Use Policies covering drone technology and found that the drone IUP does not fully or accurately describe the Department's practices, capabilities, reporting structure, and health and safety risks. The report made ten recommendations to update the drone IUP for accuracy and public transparency.
- Released
- 2024-12-18
- Kind
- Policy
Key findings
- The drone IUP requires all deployments to be operated and supervised by the Technical Assistance Response Unit, but multiple other NYPD units run their own drone programs without TARU involvement, including the Transit Bureau, Highway Unit Collision Technician Group, Emergency Services Unit, Counterterrorism Division, and Office of the Chief of Department. p. 2
- The Commanding Officer of the newly formed Drone Team reports to the Deputy Commissioner of Operations rather than to the highest-ranking uniformed member as the IUP requires, leaving no direct reporting line to the Chief of Department. p. 2
- The drone IUP does not disclose several capabilities, including fully autonomous and pre-programmed flights, two- and three-dimensional mapping, two-way communication, and glass-breaker attachments that enable forcible entry into windowed structures. p. 2
- The drone IUP does not disclose potential health and safety impacts, including risks of personal injury, property damage, and hazards from the devices' lithium-ion batteries. p. 2
- OIG-NYPD could not assess whether drone operations complied with the IUPs because NYPD provided records only for the Transit Bureau's deployments. p. 2
What DOI recommended
- Update the drone IUP to reflect that TARU personnel are not the only ones operating and supervising drone operations and that operations are currently performed independently of TARU. p. 3
- Update the drone IUP to accurately describe the approval, supervision, and reporting structure for drone operations. p. 3
- Update the drone IUP to make clear that the FAA remote pilot certificate requirement applies to all drone operators, not only TARU personnel. p. 3
- Update the drone IUP to include all capabilities of the drone fleet. p. 3
- Update the drone IUP to reference the Thermographic Cameras IUP, which contains additional relevant information. p. 3
- Update the drone IUP to note that First-Person View drone operations require a designated visual observer under FAA guidelines unless an active certificate of authorization waives it. p. 3
- Update the drone IUP to specify which units are responsible for retaining drone data and the requirements applied to units other than TARU. p. 3
- Update the drone IUP to disclose health and safety impacts related to drones and to describe the potential disparate impacts of the technology on protected groups. p. 3
Entities in this report
- Police Department Subject
- Technical Assistance Response Unit
- Federal Aviation Administration
- DJI
- Skydio, Inc.
- BRINC
- Nightingale
- Autel
- Parrot
In the council record
Council meetings after the report date where its subject came up.
- Committee on Oversight and Investigations The DOI Acting Commissioner described OIG-NYPD's recurring reports on NYPD POST Act compliance, the same oversight function that produced this report, though the upcoming edition he named focuses on facial recognition 2026-03-18