Mosby Open To Surveillance Flights

Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said she's open to having a surveillance plane patrol the city skies in the fight against crime.

"I think the citizens should weigh in on it, but as a prosecutor, if in fact the citizens believe that we should have it and the mayor and the police commissioner ultimately implement the spy plane, as a prosecutor, that's more evidence for us," Mosby said. "So we could always use additional evidence and that is something that we would love to have, especially in a city like Baltimore, where, unfortunately, we are home to what's known as witness intimidation and where the 'stop snitchin'' mentality began."

Earlier this summer, Ross McNutt, CEO of Persistent Surveillance Solutions, said he had secured an anonymous donor to pay for administration and oversight of the program.

Small planes use cameras to capture half the city at a high altitude, allowing investigators to trace the path of cars or individuals leaving crime scenes and other information that could provide officers with leads.

However, some residents and some activists have raised privacy concerns.

The program was first used in 2016 after a crime spike in the months after the death of Freddie Gray. The program was abandoned after its existence became publicly known.

"I'm fine with it," Mosby said. "If it is legal, I'm OK with it, as long as we know about it."

Mosby said the problem with the use of the plane in 2016 was that her office didn't know about its use in gathering evidence. She said that presented discovery issues in court cases.

Gov. Larry Hogan has encouraged the city to use such a program. Police Commissioner Michael Harrison has said he has not made a decision on its use. Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young said whether to bring back the surveillance flights is "up to the citizens of Baltimore" and stressed the need for more involvement from residents in helping to solve crimes.

"Our best spy plane is our citizens in Baltimore to start reporting, to start telling what they see," Young said earlier this summer.