Officers deployed high-tech surveillance devices to a lakeside beach in the US state of Minnesota following reports of immodest visitors.

One frequent visitor told CNN that bathers have shed their clothes there “for decades” because it’s “a safe place to just be comfortable”.

Another visitor said the deployment of police drones was “outrageous” and seemed targeted at African-American bathers.

Sgt Randy Mahlen, of Golden Valley Police Department, insisted the use of the devices “would be no different than a surveillance camera in a public place for a high-crime area”.

The force added that the drone footage “is accessible only to very few staff within the department”.