Group Is Trying To Get Surveillance Plane Flying Again

BALTIMORE (AP) — A group is attempting to get the grounded Baltimore police surveillance airplane flying again.

The Baltimore Sun reports the privately funded surveillance plane flew over Baltimore in 2016 collecting video for police. Police grounded the plane after its revelation to the public sparked an outcry.

Archie Williams and Ross McNutt, founder Persistent Surveillance Systems, have renamed the operation "Community Support Program."

In an effort to persuade Baltimore's mayor, they along with retired nurse Joyous Jones are visiting community associations and other places trying to build support for what they say is a much-needed crime-fighting tool in one of America's most violent cities.

The program uses a bank of cameras mounted inside a small Cessna airplane flown at roughly 8,000 feet above the city to capture footage of 32 square miles at a time.

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