The city’s Parks Department is moving to take over the beach drone surveillance program recently launched by Mayor Eric Adams, a memo shared with THE CITY shows.
The sky-high technology, which keeps an electronic eye on sharks and swimmers, is currently overseen by the city’s police, fire and emergency management agencies. All three had officials stationed this summer along parts of Rockaway Beach where they’d send up drones to monitor rough seas and assist in rescues.
Now the city Department of Parks and Recreation, which employs lifeguards at city beaches, is preparing to take over the beach drone program by summer 2026.
The department is still working out details on who would fly the drones, a spokesperson said — but lifeguards will not be operating the machines.
The expansion of the agency’s drone unit is to be overseen by an NYPD “Chief of Enforcement” to be stationed within the parks department, a new police role first revealed by THE CITY.
Last winter, the NYPD announced it would begin sending up drones to help drowning people.
Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kaz Daughtry said in a video posted to social media that if an officer saw someone drowning, that person “can hit a button, it will drop” a flotation device that inflates as soon as it hits the water.
Asked by THE CITY about the initiative in February, Adams touted technological advances in using drones to assist people who are drowning.
“I had a presentation last year on the use of drones dropping inflatable life rafts to people who find themselves caught up in a riptide, find themselves in the threat of drowning,” he said. “The communication, you can actually communicate to the person who’s in the water to sort of calm them down.”
A spokesperson for OEM said they did not deploy those inflation devices this summer. The NYPD and the FDNY did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the inflatable rafts.
Five people drowned at beaches operated by the city’s Parks Department this summer, including one who died while lifeguards were still on duty. Lifeguards made a total of 30 rescues at city beaches and pools, according to city data.
Two teens also drowned after hours at Riis Beach, which is operated by the National Park Service.
More Lifeguards
The changes to the drone program were outlined in a memo sent out by Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue and shared with THE CITY.
It also included good news about efforts to stem a lifeguard shortage that has persisted since the pandemic: This summer saw a nearly 10% increase in lifeguards over 2023, peaking at 930 people, the memo said.
That recruitment included 592 returning seasonal guards and 68 year-round lifeguards, plus 270 new recruits — up nearly 50% from the number of new lifeguards last year.
Nearly 600 of the lifeguards received a $1,000 bonus for sticking through the end-of-summer season, which ended Sept. 8, officials said.
At the start of beach season, the Parks Department ratified a contract through arbitration with the controversial union that represents lifeguards and supervisors, including the first major changes in 40 years, according to city officials.
Among them: Lifeguards at shallower pools no longer need to have perfect vision without the use of contact lenses or glasses, as required for guards at beaches and larger pools.
“There’s just too many outdated issues that are just in the way of getting things done, and we saw that,” Mayor Adams said in May.
The Parks Department aims to hold one lifeguard training class in each borough to create “a more accessible lifeguard training program for new recruits.” The current classes are only offered at pools in Manhattan, which critics said helped the union wield control over who could get to guard beaches and pools.
A Parks official said expansion would require more trainers and more host pools such as the one at Fort Hamilton High School, which is now being used for the program.
