PORTLAND –– The Portland City Council voted 4-3 Monday against spending more than $45,000 on a drone for the police department.

Police officials said the drone could help with accident reconstruction, search-and-rescue operations and incidents involving barricaded individuals.

“New technologies, such as the UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle], provide an opportunity to help maintain public safety with greater efficiency and effectiveness in accordance with the rights of residents and applicable legal requirements,” police officials wrote in a memo to the council.

Councilor Kate Sykes, who supported the proposal, said Portland police cannot control what’s done with data and footage collected by drones it borrows from other departments.  

“Saying whether or not the police can purchase a drone is not going to make drones go away,” Sykes said. “In fact, it only puts us in a more difficult position because we don’t really have control over the usage in our city.”

Resident George Rowe also supported the purchase.

“The idea that a drone is somehow too hot an item to give our police department in this day and age is a head-scratcher,” Rowe told the council.

However, other members of the public worried about civil rights violations. Some worried about whether AI could be used to assist in racial profiling. 

Councilors such as Wesley Pelletier said there wasn’t a strong enough policy governing the use of drones.

“I trust where the department is now, but I don’t want to sign that check for the next couple of decades without making sure we have protections in place,” Pelletier said.

Councilor Regina Phillips also voiced concerns about drones being used to spy on citizens or for racial profiling.

“I have a different take on the police department and what they do and that trust, and for me, I’m just not comfortable voting for this,” Phillips said. 

A move to table it indefinitely failed, however, which means the issue could appear again on the council’s agenda in the future.