Moree crime rates falling but residents say drone use overreach

Moree crime rates falling but residents say drone use overreach In short: Indigenous residents in the NSW town of Moree say they do not want to be the test case for police drones. A NSW Police drone trial is underway in the town and has been extended from six months to two years. What's next? Community members and the national human rights commissioner are calling for an evaluation of the trial to be made public. For the past nine months, drones have been hovering over the skyline of Moree, in north-west NSW. With an unwanted reputation as a hot spot for youth crime, the town was chosen as the site for a NSW Police drone trial. Speaking in February when police went public with details of the trial, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon assured the community that "this is not about surveillance, it is about responding to crime". But Gomeroi man Ian Brown was not convinced. "To be able to see the drones at night, to see it happening, to see them hovering above, but they're meant to be responding to active incidents," he said. "[If] there's no active incident occurring in your street, why is the drone hovering over here?" Mr Brown is the Head of Advocacy and Engagement for Just Reinvest NSW, an organisation that aims to reduce interactions with the criminal justice system for First Nations people. He said some members of Moree's Indigenous community were feeling watched. "They feel like they're being surveilled and, yes, they acknowledge that youth crime is an issue, but they don't want to feel like they can't walk out into their own backyard," Mr Brown said. "At the end of the day we are the most researched, we're the most over-surveilled community in Australia and I think we shouldn't have to be that test case, especially our young people who are our most vulnerable in the community." Trial extended The NSW government recently announced the trial would be extended from the initial six months to two years. It said a community survey of 516 people found more than 80 per cent of respondents felt positive or very positive about the drone use and believed they enhanced public safety. Figures from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) showed crime was already on the decline in Moree when the drones were introduced and had continued to fall since. The number of young people charged with a crime in Moree has fallen significantly in recent years — from 240 in 2022–23 to 113 in 2025–26. In the past two years, break and enters into non-dwellings have fallen by 50 per cent and motor vehicle theft is down by 36 per cent. BOCSAR executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said it was impossible to accurately assess the impact of the drones at this stage. "In a small area like Moree there are so many factors that influence crime rates, even individuals being detained in custody or coming out of custody … as well as those more formal crime-control strategies," she said. “I don't believe we can definitively say that the drones are responsible for the crime declines. "In fact, a lot of the crime declines that we've been reporting in Moree have occurred prior to the implementation of the drones." The ABC asked NSW Police for details about how often the drones had been deployed but was told that information would only be provided if a GIPA (Freedom of Information) request was approved. NSW Police confirmed that in addition to being used for "operational purposes", footage captured from the drones would be used as evidence in court "if a criminal offence or public safety issue occurs". Loading...Principal solicitor at the Justice and Equity Centre, Jonathan Hall Spence, said that was starting to happen. "This footage might be appearing in the brief of evidence, but there's not much chance for the court to test it or probe it because people plead guilty so that they can resolve the matter quickly," he said. "There hasn't yet been [a] legal challenge to the use of drone footage in evidence, but I anticipate that we will probably see that before long." A legal grey area Mr Hall Spence said the drones were different to other forms of cameras used by police. "Drones can get really up close and personal to people's properties and backyards, and they can also do that in a way that's not necessarily very noticeable," he said. "You're definitely going to hear a helicopter that's flying over your backyard. "As long as we're not understanding exactly how police are using these drones and in what circumstances, it's really not going to be clear whether there are sufficient safeguards or limitations on how the drones are used." Mr Hall Spence said communities could be having their rights infringed without even knowing. "It may only be when footage turns up in a brief of evidence in a court case that you realise that your property was under surveillance," he said. Lorraine Finlay, Australia's Human Rights Commissioner, has also expressed concerns about how the technology could fit into existing laws that were written long before drones existed. "We need to make sure that if this technology is being used there is a clear foundation in law and there are clearly legislated safeguards and limits," she said. "We know from past experience the potential for these types of policing tools to gradually expand over time in terms of the way they're used." In a statement, a spokesperson for NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the drones were operating under "established governance arrangements and standard operating procedures to ensure lawful, proportionate and transparent use". Calls for evidence and evaluation In August's budget estimates, Ms Catley said an evaluation of the trial was being completed by police, but it would not be made public. Ms Finlay said the decision to extend the trial should not have been made before the evaluation was complete. "We don't have all the evidence, and yet it feels as though the decision has already been made without explaining to the broader community how this works," she said. "This isn't just a question about whether the technology works or doesn't work. "It's a question of what impact that technology is having and how it's being used by the police in terms of protecting our rights and freedoms."