Law enforcement and commercial use of drones is expanding rapidly, and the pace is about to pick up.
So is the fight over public access to the information they gather — on video and through other means — along with what safeguards should be in place to protect privacy rights.
The Trump administration last week proposed new rules to make it easier for companies to use drones over longer distances — out of the operator’s sight — without having to go through a cumbersome waiver process. The Federal Aviation Administration already has streamlined approvals for public agencies.
Carlsbad looks to become the next city in San Diego County to start using unmanned aerial vehicles as public safety first-responder eyes in the sky that can get to and check out an incident faster than a human-staffed police or fire vehicle.
Chula Vista said their aerial vehicles can get to locations in about two minutes rather than the six it might take an officer to get there. Importantly, real-time drone videos can help determine what kind of further response, if any, is needed. That’s not only efficient, but it could provide relief for the many short-staffed police departments around the country.
Chula Vista was on the ground floor of drone flights by public safety agencies in the nation and also has been forced to the forefront of the legal battle over transparency and other issues stemming from their use.
The city recently appealed to the California Supreme Court to overturn a ruling granting access to drone videos to Arturo Castañares, publisher of La Prensa San Diego, in a lawsuit filed on his behalf by attorney Cory Briggs.
It’s the second time Chula Vista is seeking a state high court review of a decision requiring the Chula Vista Police Department to give drone video access to Castañares.
Earlier, Castañares sought a month’s worth of drone videos under the California Public Records Act. The city rejected the request, saying they were part of ongoing investigations. Eventually, the courts ruled the city could not make such a blanket exemption to keep the videos from being released.
The case was kicked back to Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor, who ruled that the city should release around two dozen videos to Castañares, though certain portions of the videos should be blurred in light of privacy concerns, according to CBS News 8. That prompted Chula Vista’s second appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Various disputes over the use of drones are taking place across the country at various levels of government. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and other Democratic senators criticized the Department of Homeland Security last month for using video-equipped Predator drones to monitor protesters of immigration enforcement efforts in Los Angeles.
They further said the department’s partial release of the videos — which they said focused on scattered violence and distorted what were largely peaceful protests — violated the department’s own rules about limiting such disclosures.
Some local agencies say they seek to protect people’s privacy on drone videos, much as they do in the use of body-worn cameras, according to Phil Diehl of The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Carlsbad police said the drone cameras are tilted toward the horizon and the sky, not the ground below, when traveling to and from an incident. Some agencies don’t turn the cameras on until the drone reaches its destination.
As with any surveillance technology, misuse or abuse is always a concern.
The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation late last year said more than 1,500 law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have been reported to employ drones, a number that has surely increased.
“The result is that backyards, which are part of the constitutionally protected curtilage of a home, are frequently being captured, either intentionally or incidentally,” wrote the EFF’s Hannah Zhao.
In Michigan, property owners sued a local government for using drone photos of their five-acre property without a warrant to use as evidence against them in a zoning dispute. The Michigan Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of Long Lake Township.
Some police officials say drones are becoming a game-changer in helping protect public safety.
Capt. John English, who leads the drone first-responder program for the Chula Vista Police Department, called the drones the “single greatest integrated piece of technology” for policing, according to The Washington Post.
Drones can search for evidence, suspects or lost individuals, and can help officers assess traffic accidents and other incidents from afar.
Chula Vista Police Chief Roxana Kennedy described one instance of drone use in 2018 that “changed everything.” She told the Post that a drone responded to a call about a man who appeared to be erratically waving a gun. Before officers arrived, the drone footage showed the object was not a gun, but a cigarette lighter.
“It could have ended up in a shooting,” Kennedy said.
President Donald Trump is looking to expand drone development and manufacturing in hopes that the U.S. can dominate the market, where China is a key player.
Drones already have changed the nature of warfare, as evidenced in Ukraine’s struggle to fight off the more than 3-year-old invasion by Russia.
Meanwhile, drones may soon be altering everyday life.
Increasingly, they are being used to inspect bridges and powerlines, and help on farms, among other things, in addition to being incorporated in police and firefighting strategies.
Eventually, consumers may have regular experiences with drones. It might take awhile to become commonplace, but in the future, your favorite goods from Amazon may be dropped off by a drone at your doorstep.
And instead of a Starbucks run, a coffee air delivery could be on the way.
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