Council President Brandon M. Scott's statement on announcement of aerial surveillance pilot program

Council President Brandon M. Scott's statement on announcement of aerial surveillance pilot program

"If we care about saving lives, we have no time to be distracted from solutions that we know work."

BALTIMORE, MD (December 20, 2019) — Council President Brandon M. Scott issued the following statement following BPD's announcement of an aerial surveillance pilot program:

"Gun violence is out of control in our city and we are all looking for solutions that can save lives. This is why our city needs a comprehensive, coordinated approach to public safety. 

Sadly, the City of Baltimore does not have one. When you don't have a plan, you reach for boxing rings. You hope for cold weather. You say you'll put a surveillance plane up in the sky that does not work.

We need solutions that work, and Commissioner Harrison has told the City Council multiple times this year, as recently as October, that there is no evidence the surveillance plane is an effective crime-fighting tool. BPD recently testified that, in the time the surveillance plane was secretly used in Baltimore, it yielded zero pieces of evidence that could be used to fight crime.

A spy plane in the sky might make some of us feel safer, but it is not a proven crime-fighting tool. We know this.

Baltimore is the only city that's ever used the spy plane. That's because every other city that's been approached with the technology has said no.

The Baltimore City Council will continue to use our oversight authority to monitor the use of the surveillance plane, its effectiveness, its compliance with the Consent Decree, and all other concerns.

Baltimore needs a leader who will strategize with every single one of our city agencies and law enforcement partners to fight crime in Baltimore with a common mission and unified plan. If we care about saving lives, we have no time to be distracted from solutions that we know work."

— Council President Scott