Plan to conduct surveillance with drones stirs some privacy concerns
Sacramento Bee | December 7, 2007
By Ryan Lillis
The Sacramento Police Department is developing an unmanned aircraft to conduct video surveillance at crime scenes and other emergencies, joining a wave of law enforcement agencies across the country hoping to use so-called aerial drones similar to those used by the military.
Such efforts have sparked concerns by civil libertarians who fear police may violate citizens' privacy with such technology.
But the Police Department says such concerns are unfounded and that it has begun applying for Federal Aviation Administration approval to operate its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, or UAV, by next summer.
The aircraft, along with other new technology being used by the department, will be unveiled today at a press conference.
"It's mind-boggling when we start brainstorming of how we can use it," Police Chief Albert Nájera said.
The Police Department has been developing the project for the past six months, constructing a prototype and working on the technology that will link video and infrared images taken by the drone to officers on the ground and in helicopters. The department said it already has much of the technology in place to broadcast the images and that the project's start-up costs are minimal.
The FAA said it has seen an increase in the number of law enforcement agencies across the country interested in using unmanned drones, but so far only police departments in Houston and Miami have begun testing the technology.
The Sacramento Police Department has not flown its prototype, because it has not completed its application to the FAA.
The American Civil Liberties Union has been monitoring law enforcement's use of drones "for a couple of years now" and is concerned it is "another example of the technology getting ahead of the law," said Jay Stanley, director of the ACLU's technology and liberty program.
"It certainly goes beyond the old-fashioned notion of privacy that most people have, especially when you start talking about infrared," Stanley said. "Your perception of your privacy and what the police can do are two different things."
Nájera said the aircraft's role will be "no different than our helicopters," which already have the ability to capture images on video and infrared. He said the aircraft will not be used to spy and will act as a cost-effective complement to helicopters.
"All of the laws that apply to privacy issues apply to this," he said.
Mark Bateson, an electronics engineer who works as a consultant to the Police Department and has been flying radio-controlled aircraft for 30 years, designed the device in his garage and is donating it to the department. Bateson said he believes the aircraft will "save somebody's life someday" and will also save the department money.
"What we need to do during this budget crunch is to get more out of our technology," he said.
The department is applying for federal grants that would be earmarked specifically to run the aircraft.
Stanley said the fact that police helicopters can be expensive to use and maintain "ensures departments will only use them when they really need them."
"When technology becomes automated and cheaper and easier, then it destroys the natural limits on surveillance," he said.
FAA approval is required to fly any aircraft used for anything other than recreational use, including unmanned drones. The Police Department is in the process of applying for a certificate of authority from the FAA and is hoping its aircraft will be operational by next summer.
At first, police plan to use the aircraft only at crime scenes, where it would fly tight patterns within view of officers on the ground. Eventually, officials hope the drone will take off from and land at the department's communications center near Tahoe Park and be used to find missing children, monitor levees during heavy rains and detect prowlers.
Nájera said the aircraft would have been useful during an incident Monday at the Save Mart in east Sacramento in which an alleged robber held up the store and retreated into the attic. Officers searched the store for five hours longer than a helicopter could be used at one incident before determining the suspect had gotten away.
"It will never truly replace a trained police officer in the air, but it will certainly be a very cost-effective alternative to that," Nájera said.
