New York police tests drone emergency response use: report

In the wake of recent moves to facilitate drone operations in the formerly closed skies of New York City, officials are now reportedly examining the further expansion of already increasing police use of UAVs to include emergency responder activities – provoking immediate, albeit suspiciously motivated alarm.

News of New York City looking to add first responder deployment to those the police department’s drone unit already operates is at once logical, not surprising, and the topic of some controversy – or at least attempts to stir reaction. Initial reports of those broader UAV plans came this week in the New York Post – one of the papers owned by Fox News tycoon Rupert Murdoch, who rarely misses an opportunity to generate trouble for his liberal foes. 

In this case, the normally law-and-order activist daily plays to actual, long-standing New Yorker concerns about privacy rights from the city’s increased tech deployment to kindle fears…