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Imagine rushing your pregnant wife to the hospital; you’re speeding down Interstate 95 when you get pulled over by a Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office (MDSO) patrol car, but no officer steps out to hear why you’re going so fast. You then have to wait until another officer shows up and says you’ve been pulled over by a robo-cop.
Welcome to Miami policing in 2025.
This week, MDSO became the first law enforcement office in the nation to announce the impending use of an autonomous patrol car, which the department says won’t replace officers, but help them in emergencies and during events. The department unveiled the Ford SUV in a glitzy, pyrotechnic display that could have been confused for a World Wrestling Entertainment match or movie premiere. MDSO even brought out a real pug to promote the new policing tool, dubbed the Police Unmanned Ground Vehicle (PUG) Patrol Partner, by the nonprofit Policing Lab.
“It carries 360-degree cameras, license plate readers, a rooftop drone, and biometric tools inside,” Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said at the event. “It’s designed to patrol hotspots, support event security, provide backup in emergencies, and cover areas where resources are limited.”
Policing Lab, in collaboration with Perrone Robotics, donated the SUV to MDSO and has promised to cover all maintenance and technology upgrade costs, detective Samantha Choon told New Times in a written statement Friday. The department is using the SUV as part of a pilot program and there are no plans to expand into using more at this time.
She said the department is showcasing the vehicle at community events to gather feedback before training deputies to use it for select patrols, adding that officials will continue to evaluate its usefulness and public response. Choon noted that MDSO could use the PUG to extend officer presence at large gatherings. “And during certain emergencies, we can use the vehicle’s drone to help locate a missing child or fleeing subjects,” she wrote.
The Policing Lab won’t have access to the data the vehicle gathers, including license plates and other personal information; they’ll only have access to the technology’s diagnostic information, which it uses for maintenance purposes, she continued.
It’s unclear how much the car costs, when exactly it will be deployed, what events it might help cover, and whether the group selling the car, Policing Lab, will have access to data the car collects. MDSO hasn’t answered a host of New Times‘ questions about the car, but said it would do so in the coming days.
While the MCSO praised the new technology as an enforcement multiplier, critics who oppose law enforcement’s use of autonomous machines argue that its use for specific purposes could transform into an Orwellian, Big Brother state of constant surveillance, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
“We at the ACLU have always allowed that there are some very good uses for drones, such as searching for a lost person on a cold night in the wilderness,” senior policy analyst Jay Stanley wrote for the ACLU in September. “But we’ve also been very concerned by other law enforcement uses, such as the monitoring of protests and other gatherings and drones as first responder programs. But the use of drones for patrols is something that we vehemently oppose.”
Stanley goes on to describe a “nightmare scenario where drones are used for mass surveillance and the experience of having police flying cameras buzzing overhead becomes routine in people’s daily lives.” He narrates a scene where police unleash fleets of bargain drones that blanket communities, swap in and out like shift workers, and refuel themselves without ever touching human hands.
