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Baltimore police secretly using aerial camera surveillance, report says

The Baltimore Police Department has been using an aerial surveillance system borrowed from the Iraq War, according to Bloomberg.

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Megan Wollerton Former Senior Writer/Editor
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Baltimore Police officers participating in a Fairness and Impartiality in Policing Implicit Bias class at the Baltimore Police Training Academy on November 19, 2015.

Ricky Carioti, The Washington Post/Getty Images

The Baltimore Police Department has been using an aerial camera surveillance system repurposed from the Iraq War since January, a Bloomberg report says.

The report published on Tuesday says Dayton, Ohio-based Persistent Surveillance Systems gave the Baltimore police a Cessna airplane outfitted with high-resolution cameras able to cover roughly 30 square miles and transmit images in real time for analysis and long-term archiving.

Officers have relied on the monitoring technology to solve a variety of crimes, including burglaries, hit-and-runs, and homicides. However, Bloomberg claims Baltimore never alerted the public to the privately funded surveillance system.