New drone tech being deployed in Miami Beach amid spring break crackdown

Miami Beach Police are rolling out a new drone designed to keep spring breakers in check.

Spring break for many universities starts this week, and Miami Beach Police have a not-so-subtle message for college student visitors: don’t try anything because we are watching you like a hawk. Literally. 

The new airborne first responder, the Skydio X10 drone, is the first of its kind in Florida and is meant to make sure spring breakers keep calm and carry on, preferably somewhere else. Police showed off the department’s new first responder drone, which gives officers an aerial view of any area of the city within a minute of launching. 

“Provides data in real time so we can use data to make key decisions in the field for our police officers,” said police chief Wayne Jones at a news conference held inside the brand-new Real Time Intelligence Center on Monday.

Picture a room with dozens of video monitors, and officers watching them. The RTIC utilizes video feeds from nearly 850 cameras mounted all over the city. 

After heavily cracking down on wild spring breakers last year, Miami Beach city leaders launched a campaign this year to announce they were "Breaking Up With Spring Break."

“We are giving them the best technology,” said Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner. 

He said it’s not a coincidence that the city is showing off the crime-fighting technology as spring breakers start rolling in.

"A friend of mine said to me, 'hey, you guys not only broke up with spring break, but you actually divorced it,' and we did and it went well," Miami Beach Police Chief Wayne Jones said. "And so this year the idea is sort of playing on the old message, 'hey, come down here, have a good time, but we're gonna give you a reality check.'"

The reality check is that police are ready and watching. Officers will be able to dispatch the new drone anywhere along the beach, where it can quickly relay emergency information back to officers at their new, state-of-the-art real-time intelligence center.

"We are setting the tone of law and order. People are looking at us as to how to accomplish safety, reduce crime, crack down on spring break, and the timing is perfect as we approach spring break to roll out these initiatives," Meiner said. "My goal is to make Miami Beach the safest city in America and we're on our way."

Miami Beach also has some 850 cameras monitoring areas around town, more than any other city in the state.

NBC6 asked some spring breakers what they thought of the city’s efforts to discourage them from being here. 

“I can see where they’re coming from, because people from out of state do make a mess and ruckus a lot, but I mean, kids just want to have fun and this is where everybody wants to go,” said Brianna Larison, a student at East Carolina University.

Her classmate, Karina Alvarez, agreed, saying, “Previous years, they did come down and destroy everything but at the same time, people come down here to have fun.”

Ali Rashid, a University of Virginia student, told us his peers know the city doesn’t want them here. 

“It does discourage some people, I will say, I have some friends who decided not to come,” Rashid said. 

The Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce says it doesn’t mind if spring breakers stay away. 

“We see the city’s crackdown as a very measured, strategic move which aims to balance short-term tourist revenue with long-term community and economic health,” said the Chamber’s president, Brittnie Bassant. “There’s always gonna be two sides of the coin, we have some businesses that are very much in favor of this and we have some that see it as a strain, and so again, it’s always a balancing act.”

The unveiling of the drone technology comes just days ahead of what city leaders expect to be one of the busiest spring break weekends.