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Residents’ concerns about drones, privacy and how police would use the technology have paused an agreement between Apex and the company Axon that had been headed for routine approval.
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The agreement includes spending over $100,000 on a combination of DroneSense software for managing the town’s existing police drone program and a recording system for three police interview rooms.
It was on the council’s consent agenda, which is typically approved without discussion, but member Sue Mu requested it be sent to the Public Safety Committee for additional review.
Council members received “a number of emails from residents expressing concerns,” Mu said. Additional review and a presentation from Police Chief Ryan Johansen could help residents and council members better understand the technology and its safeguards before the town moves forward, she explained.
Opposition was visible online and at the council’s Aug. 11 meeting. A post on Reddit drew more than 100 comments and urged residents to contact council members about the Axon agreement. Mayor Pro Tem Terry Mahaffey participated in the discussion, explaining that the Public Safety Committee’s meetings are open to the public and that the committee makes recommendations to the full council.
“No more cameras, no Flock, no Axon, and absolutely no drones,” longtime resident Timothy McLain told the council.
The Reddit discussion also connected Axon to the broader debate over Flock, the vendor for Apex’s automated license-plate readers. Johansen told the council June 9 that Axon was entering the license-plate-reader market as officials discussed alternatives to Flock. Apex already uses Axon for body cameras, vehicle cameras and Tasers. The agreement discussed Aug. 11 does not involve license-plate readers.
Johansen told The N&O that police have operated drones for years. He said DroneSense would allow officers at a scene to receive live drone footage and would improve tracking of flight information police otherwise record manually.
The agreement would not fundamentally change the existing drone program, he said. Town materials say police use drones to search for suspects and missing people.
Apex also budgeted $147,500 in fiscal 2025-26 to start a “Drone as First Responder” program to provide real-time, first-responder support, though The N&O could not determine Monday if that program has begun.
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DeFlock Apex, a resident advocacy group opposing the agreement, says it has found no Apex drone ordinance, publicly available drone-use policy or publicly stated rule for how drone footage and data should be retained.
Johansen said that Apex’s existing drone program is governed by a “robust policy” compliant with applicable laws and standards set by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. The N&O has requested the policy from the town but had not received it as of Monday.
Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the ACLU, said drones have legitimate uses, such as searching for a missing person, but raise civil-liberties concerns when they are used for broad surveillance of people who are not suspected of wrongdoing.
Town documents put the five-year DroneSense portion of the cost at $42,740, which includes storing drone footage in Axon’s avidence system, and estimate the interview-room system at $73,758. .
The council approved a separate police-technology agreement, for a system called LeadsOnline PowerPlus, without sending it for the same committee review. Johansen said it extends access to a system police have used for years to search transaction records from businesses such as pawn shops and metal recyclers for stolen property.
The three-year, $22,412 package also includes nationwide transaction searches, searches of data extracted from phones, OfferUp and eBay access, mapping and a tool that can flag when another law-enforcement agency has records connected to the same investigative target.
Mu said LeadsOnline “did not raise the same questions for me at the time.” She said that should not be interpreted as a broader judgment that one technology is inherently more concerning than another.
DeFlock Apex has called for new surveillance technologies to undergo public notice, privacy review and a council vote. Mu said it is worth considering whether Apex needs additional guidance to promote consistency and transparency. She said she has not yet discussed that idea with her council colleagues.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert said no formal agenda or meeting date has been set for the Public Safety Committee.
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