L-Ne · Historical Source Library

News Source Record

# News Source Record

**L-Ne / Open-source news extract** — Original media coverage of unmanned aerial systems.

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Collection date | 7 February 2013 |
| Platform | Quiet Systems |
| Data label | Open-source news record // LRRK collection product |
| Handling | Public-source material. Image rights require separate verification before publication. |
| Scale | Local |
| Language | English |
| Terms matched | drone; drones; unmanned aerial vehicles; unmanned systems; unmanned aircraft |

## Bibliographic

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Outlet | The Seattle Times |
| Title | Seattle grounds police drone program |
| Dateline | Seattle (Christine Clarridge; Lynn Thompson contrib.) |
| First publisher | yes |
| Original URL | https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-grounds-police-drone-program/ |
| Archive URL | — |
| Dedup key | 2013-02-07|seattle-times|mcginn-grounds-spd-draganflyer |
| Source grade | A1 |

## Record

**Verified extract — [Fact — A1]** Christine Clarridge reported Mayor Mike McGinn, in a Thursday statement with Chief John Diaz, ended Seattle Police’s drone program before it flew, so SPD could focus on public safety and “community building.” Two drones bought with federal funds would be returned to the vendor. The announcement came a day after a public hearing on a proposed ordinance that drew vocal privacy opposition. FAA had approved SPD the previous year to train operators after the Obama-signed integration law. SPD had bought two 3.5-pound Draganflyer X6 Helicopter Tech drones with a regional Homeland Security grant for hostage, search-and-rescue and disaster use; one was expected for King County Sheriff. ACLU-WA’s Doug Honig called the decision wise. Councilmember Bruce Harrell (running against McGinn) said McGinn took “the easy way out.” The pending ordinance would have banned general surveillance and assembly overflight and required warrants except for hostages, SAR, armed-felon pursuit, bomb threats, fire hot spots, or traffic data. The page notes Charlottesville’s two-year moratorium earlier that week. Sheriff John Urquhart said he had returned his department’s drone to Seattle police.

**Kinematic object.** Two 3.5-lb Draganflyer X6 helicopters (SPD / intended King County share), never deployed, to be returned

**Coverage frame.** regulatory / incident

## Source integrity

- Why this is treated as an original
- Wire reprint status: Seattle Times original local report. Not AP (AP’s same-day Seattle item is a shorter wire).
- What was excluded

- Page says “Thursday”; 7 February 2013 was that Thursday (hearing Wednesday 6 February).
- Excluded later “Most Read” chrome.

## LRRK relevance

Watch / Control Fabric. Local police UAS killed by privacy politics before first flight.

*LRRK — security assurance for systems that sense, move, and act.*

L-Ne