New Orleans City Council: Permanently Ban Armed Police Drones
The Issue
In June 2026, the New Orleans Police Department quietly published a revised drone operations manual that would allow officers to equip quadcopter drones with weapons. Nothing more than the Superintendent's written approval would be required. No public vote. No council oversight. No community input.
The policy only came down after local activists from Eye on Surveillance spotted it and began calling city council members. NOPD replaced it with language banning weapons on drones, but has refused to explain how or why the weaponized version was published in the first place.
This isn't an accident. It's a pattern.
NOPD has a documented history of deploying surveillance technology in secret. A private facial recognition company called Project New Orleans operated in covert cooperation with NOPD for two years before it was publicly exposed. The ACLU says NOPD has continued using it in violation of local law while stonewalling public records requests.
Now, just days after the weaponized drone policy disappeared, the city council voted 4 to 3 to give NOPD $250,000 to expand its drone program in the French Quarter, including a "drones as first responders" initiative where residents calling 911 may see a drone before they see an officer.
Experts warn that arming drones lowers the bar for police use of force. "That would become so much easier and so much less emotionally and physically burdensome if they can deploy force by pressing a button," said Matthew Guariglia of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
New Orleans has seen a real decline in gun violence. Introducing unaccountable aerial weapons into that environment, without debate, without a vote, without transparency, is not policing. It's escalation.
We call on the New Orleans City Council and Mayor LaToya Cantrell to pass a binding city ordinance explicitly and permanently prohibiting NOPD from equipping any drone with weapons or hazardous materials of any kind, with no exceptions for Superintendent approval or emergency use.
A press release that says "we won't do it" is not enough. The community deserves law, not promises from a department that has broken them before.
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The Issue
In June 2026, the New Orleans Police Department quietly published a revised drone operations manual that would allow officers to equip quadcopter drones with weapons. Nothing more than the Superintendent's written approval would be required. No public vote. No council oversight. No community input.
The policy only came down after local activists from Eye on Surveillance spotted it and began calling city council members. NOPD replaced it with language banning weapons on drones, but has refused to explain how or why the weaponized version was published in the first place.
This isn't an accident. It's a pattern.
NOPD has a documented history of deploying surveillance technology in secret. A private facial recognition company called Project New Orleans operated in covert cooperation with NOPD for two years before it was publicly exposed. The ACLU says NOPD has continued using it in violation of local law while stonewalling public records requests.
Now, just days after the weaponized drone policy disappeared, the city council voted 4 to 3 to give NOPD $250,000 to expand its drone program in the French Quarter, including a "drones as first responders" initiative where residents calling 911 may see a drone before they see an officer.
Experts warn that arming drones lowers the bar for police use of force. "That would become so much easier and so much less emotionally and physically burdensome if they can deploy force by pressing a button," said Matthew Guariglia of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
New Orleans has seen a real decline in gun violence. Introducing unaccountable aerial weapons into that environment, without debate, without a vote, without transparency, is not policing. It's escalation.
We call on the New Orleans City Council and Mayor LaToya Cantrell to pass a binding city ordinance explicitly and permanently prohibiting NOPD from equipping any drone with weapons or hazardous materials of any kind, with no exceptions for Superintendent approval or emergency use.
A press release that says "we won't do it" is not enough. The community deserves law, not promises from a department that has broken them before.
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Petition created on July 21, 2026