A report from the Chicago Sun-Times is raising eyebrows. The newspaper has uncovered that the Chicago Police Department has bought drones using funds acquired through the seizure of property and cash.

Plenty of police departments in the world are using drones. They’re incredibly useful tools that can be used for situational awareness, accident and crime scene documentation, Search & Rescue, and more. Except usually, it’s a very public process: Police departments often meet with a public board to discuss budgets and expenditures, and often, the police are quite happy to spread the word to the public about their adoption of this new technology.

According to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times, that’s not what happened in this case.

“Secretive”

That’s how the newspaper describes what transpired: “The Chicago Police Department started a secretive drone program using off-budget cash to pay for the new technology, the Sun-Times has learned.”

When something is paid…

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Source: dronedj.com