A Denver woman was left shocked and feeling “violated” after spotting a police drone hovering outside her window while she was taking a bath.
"I was just playing on my phone, relaxing, and I saw a flashing light coming from the window," the woman, who asked to be identified as Eden, told KUSA. "It was a drone, and I was like, 'Oh my God’... I felt violated.”
Eden called out to her boyfriend, Carlos, who was also in the apartment and saw the drone flying close to their window on Monday night. The couple estimated the drone was flying around 30 feet from the ground.
"I mean, I saw it right out of my window," Carlos told the outlet. "At least, close enough to where I feel like if I threw a rock, I'd be able to hit it."
When contacted, Denver police admitted that the drone belonged to them and was part of a four-month first responder program, on the way to the scene of a call about a suicidal person near to the apartment. Police later confirmed that based on “location, altitude, perspective and camera angle of the drone” the device was not close to the woman’s residence.
Eden said she still felt uncomfortable despite what police said.
"I almost preferred that it was a stranger because the police are here to protect and not to violate," she told KUSA. "It didn't feel good. It didn't make me feel safe at all."
The department told the outlet that it offered to show Carlos the footage from the flight – which were confirmed by DPD logs – and said the drone was flying at 200 feet for the entire flight, which the couple disputes.
“The Denver Police Department provided four critical pieces of information confirming the location, altitude, perspective and camera angle of the drone during its two-minute flight in this area on a call for service — all of which disproved the possibility that the DPD drone was flown in close proximity to the complainants' residence,” the agency said in a statement.
“Having factually established that the DPD drone was not flown in close proximity to the complainants building or bathroom window, two possible explanations exist for the complainants' experience. The first possible explanation is that it was DPD's drone the complainants observed, but the complainants perceived the drone to be much closer to their residence than it actually was. The second possibility is that the complainants observed a separate, privately owned and operated drone outside their residence that was in no way associated with Denver Police.”
Police told the couple that the drone had only been flown in the area for approximately two minutes and circled the location of the call for service during that time. Information is stored on its Drone as First Responder Transparency Dashboard for 60 days.
According to the department, such first responder drones have been deployed to 622 calls for service from when the program was quietly rolled out in October last year, through to February 12.
Drones arrive on scene before officers more than 84 percent of the time and drone pilots can determine whether or not a physical patrol response is needed in more than 36 percent of cases – freeing up officers for more serious incidents.
Eden told KUSA that, despite her negative experience, she believed that the drones “can be used in a right way,” though added: "I don't like the fact that they were hovering in a very residential spot where people could get the wrong idea."
This article was updated after publication when Denver police provided new details about the drone’s path
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