- Lancaster Police Department in New York will be testing a drone surveillance system that logs license plates and streams live video to officers in response to 911 calls and sensor alerts.
Starting in September, a drone will lift off somewhere in Lancaster, New York, stream live video of your street to police officers, and log the license plate of every vehicle it passes — reportedly before a patrol car leaves the station. Lancaster Police Department is launching a three-month test of Flock Safety’s Drone as First Responder system, dispatching camera-equipped drones to 911 calls and sensor alerts. Fixed Flock cameras already dot roadside poles across Western New York, including in Cheektowaga. Strapping that same technology to something that flies over your backyard is a fundamentally different proposition than deploying a surveillance app against a targeted group.
What the Drones Actually Do
Flock’s system logs plates, vehicle details, and aerial video — and claims an 86-second average response time that the company has not independently verified.
Flock’s fixed cameras scan passing vehicles and record license plates, make, model, color, and even bumper stickers, feeding everything into a searchable database. The drone layer adds aerial situational awareness before officers arrive on scene. Flock’s own marketing materials cite an average arrival time of roughly 86 seconds — a company figure, not independently audited. Supporters say that live overhead video reduces dangerous surprises for responding officers.
Here’s what the Lancaster trial looks like in practice:
- The program runs three months, and Lancaster PD plans a public transparency portal showing flight paths and each drone launch.
- Flock states data retention is typically around 30 days, though local agencies control that window and can adjust it under state and local law.
- Drones are intended to respond to defined incidents — 911 calls or sensor alerts — not continuous neighborhood patrol, per Flock’s own policy language.
- Local agencies, not Flock, own the collected data. Residents weighing their options may also consider home security systems as a complement or alternative to police-managed surveillance.
“What meetings a person attends, what doctors’ offices and religious institutions they visit, who a person associates with, and even where they sleep at night.” — ACLU-OR, on what Flock camera data can reveal about any driver’s life…