The Worcester City Council on Tuesday voted in favor of purchasing a police drone following several key policy changes ahead of the vote. 

Among other changes, the latest version now states the drone will not be used to harass or discriminate against any individual or group, and the public will be able to access quarterly reports on its deployment and use. 

The changes follow a meeting between Acting City Manager Eric Batista, Police Chief Steven Sargent and the ACLU of Massachusetts.

"The first draft in the first proposal, there was no policy. They presented a policy. We thought the policy was very flawed. It had a lot of shortcomings, so we submitted testimony," said ACLU Policy Counsel Emiliano Falcon-Morano. 

In a memo to the City Council, Batista stated the drone would be utilized in a "responsible and transparent manner in order to maintain the public's privacy and trust."

"The purpose of that meeting was not a combative point," Batista said. "It was more so 'OK, what are the things that you're reccomending, what are some things we can make alterations of in our policy? We wanted to take into consideration the council and public's opinion."

Some councilors believe the policy strikes a balance between privacy and public safety, while a vocal minority of councilors remain opposed. Councilor Khrystian King voted against the policy over lingering concerns about privacy. 

"We got conflicting information from stakeholders that are involved, and it came down to major concerns regarding civil liberties," King said. "Language specifically indicating they will not be tracking folks experiencing homelessness."

That language was recomended by the ACLU of Massachusetts, but ended up on the cutting room floor. 

"We can't pick and choose within a policy who we're going to help," Deputy Chief Paul Saucier said at Tuesday's meeting. "This is to help everybody. It will be used when requested."

The ACLU also requested drone data wouldn't be made available to federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but the request didn't make the final draft either.