Authorize expansion of the Portland Police Bureau Unmanned Aircraft System Program for purchases not to exceed $98,000
The City of Portland ordains:
Section 1. The Council finds:
- In April 2023, the City Council authorized the purchase of equipment and training for an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Pilot Project for the Portland Police Bureau (PPB).
- Prior to this authorization, PPB worked with Smart City PDX, the Bureau of Sustainability, and the Bureau of Equity and Human Rights in accordance with Resolution 37608 to develop a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that allowed for equity and transparency.
- UAS's have been used across the country since the 1990's for public missions such as firefighting, disaster relief, search and rescue, law enforcement, scientific research, testing and evaluation, surveying, and other government operational uses. UAS is used in thousands of law enforcement agencies around the country, and most jurisdictions around Portland have active UAS programs.
- PPB conducted its limited UAS Pilot Project to evaluate the effectiveness of UAS and to determine if there were savings in personnel time and investigative resources, while limiting impact to the community. The project showed improvements in evidence quality and reduction of time spent on crash scenes and other critical incidents while allowing for de-escalation of armed subjects and better overall situational awareness and outcomes.
- Pursuant to Resolution 37520, UAS is considered controlled equipment that requires council approval for purchase.
- PPB seeks council approval to purchase UAS equipment and training to support an expansion of its UAS program, making it available to all divisions and officers. The Bureau successfully conducted its pilot project, including standing up a UAS dashboard for transparency. PPB now wishes to adopt the pilot into a full program and requests approval from the council to proceed.
NOW, THEREFORE, the Council directs:
- The Chief Procurement Officer is authorized to work with the PPB to execute one or more contracts or purchase orders to support the UAS program expansion in accordance with City Procurement Code, provided any contracts are approved as to form by the City Attorney's Office.
- The Mayor and Auditor are hereby authorized to pay for purchases for the UAS components from the Police Fiscal Year 2024-25 appropriations or Federal Forfeiture Funds as directed.
Official Record (Efiles)
An ordinance when passed by the Council shall be signed by the Auditor. It shall be carefully filed and preserved in the custody of the Auditor (City Charter Chapter 2 Article 1 Section 2-122)
Passed by Council
Auditor of the City of Portland
Simone Rede
Impact Statement
Purpose of Proposed Legislation and Background Information
The Police Bureau (PPB) understands that large or active crime scenes can have a devastating effect on the community. Closures due to police activity impact communities monetarily and can be invasive and anxiety-inducing. Portland Police Bureau would like to implement an expansion of their UAS program to all precincts to proactively counter this impact.
An unmanned aerial system available throughout the bureau will allow the PPB to document crime and crash scenes, monitor critical incidents from a distance, assist with search and rescue, and provide evidence of crime, giving the bureau a tool that can deescalate tense situations, inform law enforcement investigations and decisions, and reduce crime and the fear of crime efficiently and effectively.
During the year-long pilot of the UAS system, PPB worked with Smart City PDX, the Bureau of Sustainability, and the Bureau of Equity and Human Rights to create operating procedures and a program that maximized equity, transparency and proportionality. The culmination of these efforts was reported on in Smart City PDX’s final released Privacy Impact Assessment, included in this ordinance packet as supplemental information.
Financial and Budgetary Impacts
The Police Bureau has available dollars in asset forfeiture and general funding to cover the costs of this expansion project. The outlay of $98,000 is for equipment and training necessary to expand the program to all PPB precincts and shifts. Future outlays of funding will depend on future fiscal years’ budgeted appropriations.
This program does not increase staffing levels; it uses current FTE to provide piloting and law enforcement services. It does potentially decrease investigative costs, as the UAS allows for assignment of fewer officers to process a crime scene in a shorter timeframe. It is also expected to reduce the need for some patrol resources.
Community Impacts and Community Involvement
Statistics on neighborhoods, type of crimes, and flight time will be placed on our PPB website, along with any revisions to the UAS standard operating procedure (SOP), as well as information on the equipment in use. The information will be updated periodically to allow for maximum visibility.
See the Safe Cities PDX final released Privacy Impact Assessment report for further information on the program’s assessed medium risk for privacy and safety concerns.
100% Renewable Goal
The unmanned vehicles that the Bureau plans to purchase are battery operated; the batteries are rechargeable and will be the latest in battery technology. These are zero-emission vehicles.
Financial and Budget Analysis
The cost for this program expansion will be funded from asset forfeiture within the Police Bureau's Special Revenue Fund.