CPD didn’t report drone flight data, violating Illinois law
Illinois law, namely the Freedom From Drone Surveillance Act, spells it out quite clearly: all law enforcement agencies in the state are required to report annually the time, location and purpose of each of their drone flights.
But for the 2024 reporting period, between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) didn’t provide any of this information to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA). The ICJIA is the body responsible for publishing reports on law enforcement drone usage.
Asked if CPD submitted a drone usage report or any materials at all related to drone ownership or policy for the period, ICJIA Public Information Officer Cristin Evans said “The answer to each of those questions is no.”
CPD’s lack of compliance for this period is concerning. Illinois law is intended to afford the state the added public safety of law enforcement drone usage, while checking the potential for unnecessary surveillance — an anxiety raised by the ACLU and other activists.
CPD wasn’t the only law enforcement agency that violated state law. The report states that only “312 agencies responded,” out of the 955 law enforcement agencies ICJIA contacted in Illinois.
CPD did not respond to inquiries related to its lack of compliance.
It’s unlikely CPD’s lack of reporting was accidental or a case of a bureaucratic mix up. The report states that “In March 2024, an email was sent to these agencies requesting reports on agency drone ownership, usage, and policies….Agencies that did not respond after the initial email was sent up to two reminders prior to the April 1 deadline.” Moreover, CPD provided drone data to ICJIA for the 2023 report — notably, Illinois law didn’t mandate law enforcement agencies to report drone location data at that time.
There is some good news: Evans told Noir that CPD has provided ICJIA with data, including drone location data, for the 2025 report. A version of the report without detailed location data has already been posted.
Per the 2025 report, CPD has 16 drones and conducted 566 drone flights during the 2025 reporting period. As Noir previously reported, CPD email correspondence with the billionaire Crown family suggest they may have recently helped fund the purchase of more drones for the department.
Sam Carlen contributed to the editorial process for this article.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Democratic National Convention occurred during the time period covered by the 2024 Report. The Convention occurred during the time period covered by the 2025 Report.