New Jersey town uses drones to enforce social distancing

New Jersey town uses drone with recordings to enforce social distancing

Residents will be subjected to fines up to $1,000.

UNION COUNTY, N.J. - Officials in Elizabeth, New Jersey have begun to use new technology to enforce social distancing.

In an effort to ensure that residents are abiding social distancing, police are using drones to monitor and send warnings to the population.

The drones, which are equipped with a record of the mayor issuing a warning, flies around the city to tell people to stop gathering, disperse and go home.

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Residents who do not abide the stay-at-home order are subject to fines up to $1,000.

The extreme move has sparked privacy concerns, but police claim they are not trying to be big brother and that they are trying to save lives.

"All the drones are doing is spreading an automated notice about keeping your social distance," officials from the Elizabeth Police Department wrote on Facebook. "There is no recording and no pictures being taken, it is a tool of encouragement to follow the rules."

Currently, the state of New Jersey has over 50,000 cases of COVID-19 -- one of the top locations globally in terms of cases of the coronavirus.