Mason City council approves grant application to help fund drone purchase

MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City this week approved submitting a grant application for funding to help local law enforcement purchase a drone.

Police Chief Jeff Brinkley says the police department is proposing to complete the purchase of an aerial drone for the North Central Iowa Narcotics Task Force’s Special Operations Group for their use in tactical situations.  “This is another opportunity to have eyes and ears on an incident. The use of this drone with primarily be internal to a structure where they can go in and see what’s going on in there, maybe drop a throw phone for a negotiation with a suspect who is barricaded or has a hostage in a house. There’s a lot of different things we can do to breach a window, to put some light on things so we can actually see what’s going on inside.”

Councilman John Lee says the city should have some sort of policy regarding police use of drones in the future.   “I think this isn’t something you just get without city-wide policy. That’s my view, obviously I’m not the only one that votes. I would really want the direction we are moving to look at drone policies from other cities, when they are used, when they are not used, what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable. That’s just where I’m at. I support this, but I also see this as an opening of an avenue that would make a lot of citizens nervous, and I’m probably one of them.”

The cost of the drone would be about $22,500, with the Task Force already securing funding for just over $14,000. The grant application is being made to the federal Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program