Grand Rapids, MI Second Annual Surveillance Report Released
- Carlton Mayers II
- May 19
- 3 min read
The City of Grand Rapids has released its second Annual Surveillance Report. This project came to fruition when the Grand Rapids, MI community joined forces with Mayers Solutions, LLC to lobby the city to change its surveillance technology policy. This report provides a framework to identify and analyze constitutional violations and disparities in race; sex; age; and location as it relates to city government entities' purchase and use of surveillance technologies and services including the police department's body-worn cameras.
Key Takeaways:
This report covers surveillance use during Fiscal Year 2024 (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024);
This is the second time that the annual surveillance report was presented by the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA) to the newly created Surveillance Oversight Committee (also called the Public Safety Committee), which has the power to discontinue the City’s use of surveillance technologies and services when there is evidence of violations of constitutional rights;
Besides the Grand Rapids Police Dept. (GRPD), other city entities like the Grand Rapids Fire Dept. are also using surveillance technology like unmanned aerial drones;
The analysis of civil rights violations related to the GRPD body-worn camera deactivation in the tragic officer-involved shooting and death of Patrick Lyoya in 2022 will be included in the next annual surveillance report, which will be published in 2026;
Neither OPA nor GRPD received any complaints regarding the misuse or overuse of surveillance equipment or services;
The cost of the Axon BWC was paid for by the OPA. OPA paid $777,588.22 to Axon for the GRPD BWC in Fiscal Year 2024;
GRPD used unmanned aerial drones to provide an aerial perspective of crime scenes, to collect evidence, to assist police officers and K9 units in searching for fleeing suspects and endangered persons, and to provide overwatch (i.e. an aerial view) when officers on the ground are carrying out search warrants or otherwise dealing with a dangerous situation;
GRPD conducted 383 total drone flights;
GRPD used drones to locate a person in a slight majority of deployments at 166 or approximately 43% of total flights
A vast majority of that 43% were used to locate a suspect.
38 of 166 were deployed to locate a missing or endangered person.
10. Drones were used to collect evidence during 55 deployments accounting for just 14% of the total flights;
11. 2 deployments, or less than 1% of the total deployments were used to provide an aerial view of traffic;
12. GRPD reported three drone deployments subject to a warrant or non-warrant form of court authorization;
13. Neither OPA nor GRPD received any complaints regarding the misuse or overuse of surveillance equipment or services;
14. GRPD spent $111,073.00 of its departmental fiscal budget to operate, maintain, and deploy the unmanned aerial drones during this reporting period;
15. Artificial Intelligence and facial recognition technology is being considered for future policy considerations and reports;
16. A slight majority of drone flights occurred in the City’s First Ward, accounting for approximately 157 flights
a. First Ward Flight breakdown:
i. 77 were for overwatch;
ii. 68 were for locating a person; and
iii. 12 were for evidence collection;
17. Similarly, the Third Ward saw significant drone activity, consisting of approximately 153 flights
a. Third Ward Flight Breakdown:
i. 92 were for overwatch;
ii. 53 were for locating a person; and
iii. 8 were for evidence collection;
18. The Second Ward, on the other hand, showed less drone deployment at 63 flights
a. Second Ward Flight Breakdown:
i. 23 flights were for overwatch;
ii. 32 flights were for locating a person; and
iii. 8 flights were for evidence collection; and
19. The Unknown Ward section includes other locales where GRPD assists other police agencies
a. There were 10 flights that met this criterion
i. All of which were for locating a person.
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