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<div class="">February 15, 2013</div>
<h1>Rise of Drones in U.S. Drives Efforts to Limit Police Use</h1>
<h6 class="">By
<span>
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/somini_sengupta/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by SOMINI SENGUPTA"><span>SOMINI SENGUPTA</span></a></span></h6>
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<p>
They can record video images and produce heat maps. They can be used to
track fleeing criminals, stranded hikers — or just as easily, political
protesters. And for strapped police departments, they are more
affordable than helicopters. </p>
<p>
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/unmanned_aerial_vehicles/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about unmanned aerial vehicles." class="">Drones</a>
are becoming a darling of law enforcement authorities across the
country. But they have given rise to fears of government surveillance,
in many cases even before they take to the skies. And that has prompted
local and state lawmakers from Seattle to Tallahassee to proscribe how
they can be used by police or to ground them altogether. </p>
<p>
Although surveillance technologies have become ubiquitous in American
life, like license plate readers or cameras for catching speeders,
drones have evoked unusual discomfort in the public consciousness.
</p>
<p>
“To me, it’s Big Brother in the sky,” said Dave Norris, a city
councilman in Charlottesville, Va., which this month became the first
city in the country to restrict the use of drones. “I don’t mean to
sound conspiratorial about it, but these drones are coming, and we need
to put some safeguards in place so they are not abused.” </p>
<p>
In Charlottesville, police officers are prohibited from using in
criminal cases any evidence obtained by drones, also known as unmanned
aerial vehicles. Never mind that the city police department does not
have a drone, nor has it suggested buying one. The police are not barred
from using drones for other efforts, like search and rescue. </p>
<p>
Mr. Norris said the advent of new policing technologies poses new policy dilemmas for his city. </p>
<p>
Charlottesville permits the police to install cameras temporarily in
areas known for drug dealing, but it has rebuffed a police request to
install cameras along its downtown shopping corridor. It has also chosen
not to install cameras at traffic lights to intercept speeding cars, as
is common elsewhere. </p>
<p>
“Drones are capable of taking surveillance to a whole new level,” Mr. Norris said. </p>
<p>
Last week, the Seattle Police Department agreed to return its two
still-unused drones to the manufacturer after Mayor Michael McGinn
answered public protests by <a title="Statement online." href="http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/press/newsdetail.asp?ID=13397">banning their use</a>.
On Thursday, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in Oakland,
Calif., listened to the county sheriff’s proposal to use federal money
to buy a four-pound drone to help his officers track suspected criminals
— and then listened to raucous opposition from the antidrone lobby,
including a group that uses the Twitter handle @N.O.M.B.Y., short for
Not Over My Back Yard. </p>
<p>
This week, <a title="Online statement about drones." href="http://poe.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8977:the-drones-are-coming-page-ii&catid=102:speeches&Itemid=1">members of Congress</a>
introduced a bill that would prohibit drones from conducting what it
called “targeted surveillance” of individuals and property without a
warrant. </p>
<p>
A <a title="Archive article." href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/technology/drones-with-an-eye-on-the-public-cleared-to-fly.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">federal law</a>
enacted last year paved the way for drones to be used commercially and
made it easier for government agencies to obtain them. The Department of
Homeland Services offered grants to help local law enforcement buy
them. Drone manufacturers began to market small, lightweight devices
specifically for policing. Drones are already used to monitor movement
on the United States’ borders and by a handful of police departments,
and emergency services agencies around the country are just beginning to
explore their uses. </p>
<p>
The <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_aviation_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration." class="">Federal Aviation Administration</a>
has received about 80 requests, including some from police and other
government agencies, for clearance to fly drones, according to a Freedom
of Information Act <a title="F.A.A. list." href="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/02/faa-releases-new-list-drone-authorizations-your-local-law-enforcement-agency-map">request filed</a> by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which seeks to limit their use for police surveillance. </p>
<p>
Law enforcement authorities say drones can be a cost-effective
technology to help with a host of policing efforts, like locating bombs,
finding lost children, monitoring weather and wildlife or assisting
rescue workers in natural disasters. </p>
<p>
“In this time of austerity, we are always looking for sensible and
cost-effective methods to improve public safety,” said Capt. Tom Madigan
of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. “We are not looking at
military-grade Predator drones. They are not armed.” </p>
<p>
For now, drones for civilian use run on relatively small batteries and
fly short distances. In principle, various sensors, including cameras,
can be attached to them. But there is no consensus in law on how the
data collected can be used, shared or stored. </p>
<p>
State and local government authorities are trying to fill that void. As
they do, they are weighing not only the demands of the police and civil
libertarians but also tricky legal questions. The law offers citizens
the right to take pictures on the street, for instance, just as it
protects citizens from unreasonable search. </p>
<p>
State legislatures have come up with measures that seek to permit
certain uses, while reassuring citizens against unwanted snooping.
</p>
<p>
Virginia is furthest along in dealing with the issue. In early February, its state Legislature passed a two-year <a title="Informati0on about the proposed moratorium." href="http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+sum+HB2012">moratorium</a> on the use of drones in criminal investigations, though it has yet to be reviewed by the governor. </p>
<p>
In several states, proposals would require the police to obtain a search
warrant before collecting evidence with a drone. </p>
<p>
<a title="Arizona bill." href="http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/51leg/1r/bills/hb2574p.pdf">Arizona</a> is among them. So is <a title="Montana bill." href="http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/billhtml/SB0196.htm">Montana</a>.
The bill’s sponsor there, Senator Matt Rosendale, a Republican, said he
had no problems with drones being used for other purposes, like
surveying forest fires, but he was especially vexed by the prospect of
government surveillance. The manufacturers, he added, were marketing the
new technology to government agencies, but neither federal nor local
statutes specified how they could be used. “The technology was getting
in front of the laws,” Mr. Rosendale said. </p>
<p>
An Idaho lawmaker, Chuck Winder, said he did not want to restrict law
enforcement with a search warrant requirement. He said he was drafting
language that would give law enforcement discretion to evaluate if there
was “reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct.” </p>
<p>
The attention by lawmakers has delighted traditional privacy advocates.
“I’ve been working on privacy issues for over a decade and rarely do we
see such interest in a privacy threat that’s largely in the future,”
said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil
Liberties Union in Washington. “Drones are a concrete and instantly
graspable threat to privacy.” </p>
<p>
A counterargument has come from an industry group, the Association for
Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, which downplays fears about
wholesale surveillance. The drones for sale for civilian use, it says,
are nothing like the armed military grade aircraft used in wars
overseas. </p>
<p>
“They’re another tool in the law enforcement representative’s tool kit,”
said Gretchen West, the group’s executive vice president. “We’re not
talking about large aircraft able to surveil a large area.” </p>
<p>
The F.A.A. is drafting rules on how drone licenses will be issued. On
Thursday, it announced the creation of six sites around the country
where drones of various sorts can be tested. Pressed by <a title="Letter from advocates." href="http://epic.org/privacy/drones/FAA-553e-Petition-03-08-12.pdf">advocacy groups</a>, it said it would invite public comment on privacy protections in those sites. </p>
<p>
The <a href="https://faaco.faa.gov/index.cfm/announcement/view/13143">agency</a> estimates that the worldwide drone market could grow to $90 billion in the next decade. </p>
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