Irate crowd greets Seattle Police drone plan

Press

By CASEY MCNERTHNEY, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Seattle police may use remote control drones during future investigations, and a crowd that gathered Thursday night in the Central District was furious about it.

The 6 p.m. meeting at the Garfield Community Center had far more shouting and swearing than civil discourse. Protesters launched insults complaining about invasions of privacy, yelled that the drones were a tools of capitalism and political suppression, called officers murderers, and demanded charges be brought against them.

A handful of Central District residents yelled at angry protesters, saying they wanted civil discourse. That didn’t stop the interruptions, but some had their questions answered through the chaos.

“I’m not really surprised that people are upset,” American Civil Liberties Union spokeswoman Jennifer Shaw said. “It’s a frightening thing to think that there’s government surveillance cameras flying overhead.”