{"id":267222,"date":"2026-06-08T06:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/mnpd-defends-drone-pilot-after-councilmember-raises-privacy-surveillance-questions\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T07:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T11:00:09","slug":"mnpd-defends-drone-pilot-after-councilmember-raises-privacy-surveillance-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/mnpd-defends-drone-pilot-after-councilmember-raises-privacy-surveillance-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"MNPD defends drone pilot after councilmember raises privacy, surveillance questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

MNPD defends drone pilot after councilmember raises privacy, surveillance questions<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/fox17.com\/news\/local\/mnpd-defends-drone-pilot-after-councilmember-raises-privacy-surveillance-questions<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-06-08 06:40:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: fox17.com<\/a><\/p>\n

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) \u2014 <\/span>A Metro councilmember is raising concerns about MNPD\u2019s new Drone as First Responder pilot program, questioning whether the technology amounts to surveillance and how video collected by the drones will be used.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Emily Benedict said she was not consulted before the pilot launched and questioned why part of District 7 was excluded from the program\u2019s coverage area.<\/p>\n

In a video posted online, Benedict argued the drones should be considered surveillance technology and said the program should have received additional public scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis, to me, is surveillance,\u201d Benedict said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got drones that are recording things all in their flight path, and what are they doing with that data?\u201d<\/p>\n

Benedict also raised concerns about what happens to video collected by the drones, the role of the private company providing the technology, and whether law enforcement should focus more on hiring officers instead of investing in new technology.<\/p>\n

She further questioned whether information collected through the program could be shared with federal immigration authorities, noting concerns about past ICE activity in the Madison area.<\/p>\n

MNPD defended the pilot program in a statement, saying the Drone as First Responder initiative is a temporary trial designed to evaluate how drones can assist officers responding to calls for service.<\/p>\n

According to the department, Madison was selected for the pilot because of its airspace conditions.<\/p>\n

MNPD said councilmembers representing Districts 3, 9, 10, 11 and 15 were briefed on the program. The department also said it met with community advisory boards in Madison and Hermitage and conducted outreach with local businesses.<\/p>\n

The department said it consulted with Metro\u2019s Law Department before launching the pilot. According to MNPD, attorneys determined the program does not fall under the city\u2019s surveillance technology ordinance because the drones are deployed temporarily in response to reported crimes or…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MNPD defends drone pilot after councilmember raises privacy, surveillance questions https:\/\/fox17.com\/news\/local\/mnpd-defends-drone-pilot-after-councilmember-raises-privacy-surveillance-questions Publish Date: 2026-06-08 06:40:00…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":267224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/fox17.com\/resources\/media2\/16x9\/821\/1320\/0x74\/90\/5b1f5dd1-77a0-4a38-b624-5978b2be837a-MNPD.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267226,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267222\/revisions\/267226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}