Portland — The City Council declined to approve a $45,000 purchase of an unmanned aerial vehicle for the Portland Police Department after more than an hour of public comment and council debate about privacy, civil liberties and vendor relationships.

The order (882526) proposed buying an Axon-integrated drone for uses the department says are narrow and safety-focused, including barricaded-person incidents, accident reconstruction and search missions. The council took testimony from residents who both supported and opposed the purchase. “This is a no-brainer” for public safety, said George Roe, citing a 2024 barricaded-suspect response in which a drone reportedly assisted operations. By contrast, civic-technology advocate Leo Burnett warned that the device and its AI-enabled features could enable invasive surveillance and vendor lock, saying the Axon/Skydio product “has the ability to surveil our skies to collect a lot of invasive personal information about residents.”

The police chief, speaking without a name shown in the meeting record, told the council that the department borrows drones from neighboring agencies now and that the proposed local device would be “very limited” in surveillance use — typically for barricaded suspects or safety-critical deployments — and that operators would be local, FAA-certified pilots. Staff also said the Maine Criminal Justice Academy requires reporting of every law-enforcement drone deployment and that the city’s master agreement with Axon designates the city as owner of its data and restricts manufacturer access to footage except for limited tech-support scenarios.

Councilors split along privacy and safety lines. Supporters said in-house capacity would reduce reliance on mutual aid and speed responses where lives are at risk; opponents urged more protections, clearer vendor-contract language, and a broader public conversation about law-enforcement use of AI-equipped devices. Several councilors asked whether Axon’s contract would create vendor lock with the city’s existing body-camera and cruiser-camera systems; staff said the Axon integration eased evidence transfer and operational compatibility.

When the council voted on the purchase, the motion to approve received three votes in favor and did not meet the five-vote threshold required for passage under council rules; the motion failed. Councilors then moved to postpone the matter ‘‘indefinitely’’ (which would effectively last through the current council year). The tally on that motion was 4–3 in favor, but council rules required five votes for an indefinite kill, so the postponement did not meet the threshold and the item will return to a future agenda.

What’s next: Staff told councilors they can provide additional backup materials and that the Health, Human Services and Public Safety Committee will continue quarterly reporting on deployments. Several councilors suggested a public workshop and additional contract review before bringing the item back.

Quotes: “These drones are not your grandpa’s drones,” said civic-technology advocate Leo Burnett. “State policy is inadequate,” he added, urging wider policy review. “We already borrow neighboring drones,” the chief said; acquiring one locally would let the city control storage and dissemination of footage, staff said.

The council left the item unresolved; it will reappear on a future agenda for further review and possible amendment.