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The New York City Police Department says they plan to help swimmers in distress this summer at city beaches by dropping flotation devices to them from drones — although it’s unclear how widespread the futuristic rescue operation will be.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kaz Daughtry shared the news in a video posted Friday on social media, after joking it may have looked like he was using a controller to play the video game “Call of Duty.”
In the video, Daughtry talks about controlling a drone from inside 1 Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan to fly over the 47th Precinct in The Bronx and explains how the NYPD will expand the technology to city beaches this summer.
“The goal is, we’re going to be utilizing these drones for public safety, and beach safety,” he said, while holding the drone.
“We’re gonna deploy these drones on the beach, the pilots will be flying up and down the beach keeping beachgoers and swimmers safe.”
If an officer sees someone caught in a rip tide or drowning, he said, the operator “can hit a button, it will drop” a flotation device that inflates as soon as it hits the water.
It’s not clear how often these drones would fly, or how the NYPD would coordinate with the Parks Department, which oversees the lifeguards patrolling beaches and pools.
A spokesperson for the Parks Department deferred to the Police Department when asked multiple questions about the initiative. An NYPD spokesperson said they had no further information beyond the tweet.
Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday said the drones would be operated locally, starting at Coney Island, and said they would be a great addition to the city’s life saving operations.
“I think it can be a great addition to saving lives,” he told THE CITY at his weekly press briefing.
The mayor added that the drones could even communicate with lifeguards during a rescue, using the machine’s speaker.
“It’s really important to have those extra eyes in the sky,” Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said. Asked why lifeguards or supervisors couldn’t operate the drone, Joshi and the mayor said they needed to keep their eyes on the water.
The city has dealt with persistent lifeguard shortages over the last few summers, and has boosted recruiting efforts and raised starting salaries to $22 an hour.
Swim tests to qualify for lifeguard school run through February, and so far there are 49 more new lifeguards who’ve signed up compared to last year, according to the Parks Department.
Henry Garrido, the executive director of the union that represents lifeguards and supervisors, District Council 37, said in a statement that he applauded “the mayor’s efforts to deploy more resources to keep our beaches safe.”
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But he added that “no amount of drones can replace a human being, which is why we’ve pushed so hard to increase wages and improve working conditions for our lifeguards.”
Mayor Adams — who often describes himself as a “techie” — has praised the city’s use of drones and last summer announced new guidelines in allowing agencies to use them.
The city’s fire department and other first responders used drones last summer along Rockaway Beach to check for sharks in the ocean, to determine if beaches should be closed. (They did not, however, catch them all.)
The city’s police and fire departments have used a “Digidog” to enter dangerous situations and locations, despite criticism. And last fall, the mayor unveiled a new “Robocop” who was monitoring the Times Square subway station — although that robot “retired” earlier this year from its post. The mayor said Tuesday he planned on re-assigning the robot.
Using drones to assist in lifeguarding has been used in Australia, according to Tom Gill, a spokesperson for the nonprofit United States Lifesaving Association. And they can be helpful in certain scenarios, like checking to see if a kayaker or windsurfer far out in the ocean needs help or just time to get back to shore.
“Everybody’s looking for ways to utilize what seems like a fairly simple act and a very quick response,” he told THE CITY, but warned it’s more complicated than throwing down a rescue tube.
“There’s a lot to it. It’s not just as easy as throwing something up in the air and it’s all going to work perfectly,” he said. “A panicked victim in the water is not somebody that’s easily assessed or is easy to even help when we are directly in contact with them, much less trying to drop something in that situation.”
Advocates expressed privacy concerns last summer after the NYPD announced they would use drones to monitor backyard and other parties in Brooklyn over Labor Day weekend.
Daughtry said at the time that they were “going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party.”
Daniel Schwarz, the senior privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, told THE CITY the initiative further normalizes the use of drones for surveillance. Given the popularity of sunbathing, he said it reminded him of the NYPD officers on a police helicopter who captured a couple having sex on a rooftop during the Republican National Convention in 2004.
“Do we want to have surveillance drones flying on the beaches by the NYPD? Should the NYPD be flying those or should that be another entity trained specifically in this?” he asked, also questioning its efficiency.
“I wouldn’t just blindly trust that this is a meaningful intervention in saving people’s lives as opposed to just investing in lifeguards on the beach who can respond in an instant who don’t have to use surveillance.”
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