BATON ROUGE, LA – The Baton Rouge Police Department confirmed Tuesday that its newly deployed surveillance drone made contact with residents within moments of arriving in North Baton Rouge, where it was promptly asked if it could spare a dollar.
According to officials, the drone had barely descended to a safe hovering altitude when a man looked up, took a swig of his Black & Mild, then politely asked, “Aye lil robot, you got a dollar I can borrow?”
The drone reportedly paused about 5 feet off the ground for several seconds as its onboard systems attempted to classify the interaction. Internal logs show the request was briefly flagged as a possible financial transaction, then reclassified as “normal environmental behavior.”
Officers monitoring the live feed said the exchange appeared calm and non-threatening, though the man reportedly added that he would “pay it back Friday,” despite the drone lacking pockets, currency, or any known concept of time.
BRPD officials say the drone did not respond verbally, but slowly gained altitude and repositioned itself approximately two blocks away “out of an abundance of caution.”
The department emphasized the drone remains fully operational and undamaged, though sources say it has since been programmed to avoid eye contact, maintain a higher cruising altitude when operating in similar neighborhoods and never under any circumstances carry any cash or a visible pack of cigarettes.
