The New Orleans Police Department briefly published a drone operations manual that would have allowed police drones to carry weapons if the city’s police superintendent approved it in writing, according to 404 Media. The department now says that version was an early draft and that its active policy bans weapons and hazardous materials on drones.
The policy fight is less academic than it sounds. On June 24, the New Orleans City Council approved a $250,000 budget request to expand Skydio drones in the French Quarter. The money is for a docking station and support for a “drones as first responders” program, meaning some 911 calls in the neighborhood could be met first by a quadcopter rather than an officer, according to reporting cited by 404 Media.
NOPD told 404 Media that the manual published July 1 is the current policy. That version says small unmanned aircraft systems “shall not be equipped with weapons or hazardous materials of any kind.” The department said earlier versions were drafts circulated for review before the final policy was adopted.
NOPD also told 404 Media that it “is not and will not be equipping drones with weapons or other hazardous materials.” The department did not answer follow-up questions about why the draft with weapons language appeared on its website.
A policy line changed, then changed back
NOPD’s first drone operations manual, published Feb. 7, 2024, flatly barred weapons on drones. In 2026, as the department sought more money for Skydio equipment, council members questioned police officials about the program at an April 16 public meeting.
Councilman Freddie King asked whether any current French Quarter drones were armed. NOPD Capt. Samuel Palumbo answered, “No,” according to 404 Media.
A revised manual dated June 21 later appeared on NOPD’s website with language allowing drones to be equipped with weapons if the superintendent gave written approval. Eye on Surveillance, a Louisiana activist group, said it alerted City Council members after spotting the change. By June 30, 404 Media reported, that version had disappeared. The July 1 manual restored a weapons ban and added hazardous materials to the prohibition.
The council voted 4-3 on June 24 to fund the French Quarter expansion. NOPD told council members the drones would not use facial recognition and would not be armed, according to 404 Media.
Armed police drones remain legally fraught
Federal Aviation Administration rules prohibit operating a drone equipped with a “dangerous weapon,” according to the federal law cited by 404 Media. Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told 404 Media he did not see how police arming drones could be legal under the current rules.
Guariglia has argued that police drone programs are moving toward armed uses as exemptions and relaxed enforcement erode older limits, including line-of-sight requirements. He told 404 Media that remote use of force could make violence easier for officers because it reduces the physical and emotional friction of confronting a person directly.
The New Orleans context is already loaded. The Washington Post reported in 2025 that a private company, Project New Orleans, had worked with NOPD on a live facial recognition camera network for two years before the arrangement became public. The ACLU has said NOPD continued using that system despite local restrictions and resisted public records requests.
Skydio, one of NOPD’s drone vendors, did not respond to 404 Media’s request for comment. The company said in 2020 that it would not put weapons on its drones and would oppose fully autonomous lethal weapons systems. Skydio CEO Adam Bry later said in a June 15 Decoder interview that he had “gotten some things wrong” and that the company should not decide how the military uses its drones.
Kelsey Atherton, chief editor at the Center for International Policy, told 404 Media that arming police drones would add weapons to surveillance systems that police have not shown they can responsibly manage.
This story draws on original reporting from 404 Media.
