LAPD considers deploying unmanned drones for ‘tactical events’
Defending the decision to pursue unmanned drones to assist in police work, the LAPD - who say they will cooperate with privacy groups on the matter - said the devices are being purchased by citizens, so why not allow law enforcement to use it as well?
Los Angeles acquired drones from Seattle.
At a news conference Thursday at LAPD headquarters, Chief Charlie
Beck revealed the unmanned drones could assist police forces in
“standoffs, perimeters, suspects hiding…and other tactical
events.”
“We’re interested in those applications,” he said.
Beck responded to criticism of the plans by human rights and
privacy groups by explaining that the technology is already
“in the hands of private citizens” and corporations, so
why shouldn’t law enforcement experiment with the devices as
well?
“When retailers start talking about using them to deliver
packages, we would be silly not to at least have a discussion of
whether we want to use them in law enforcement,” the police
chief said.
In December, Amazon and UPS announced ambitious plans to start
testing UAVs for making home deliveries.
Late last month, the LAPD received two Draganflyer X6 unmanned drones as a
‘gift’ from the Seattle Police Department, in what seems to have
been an effort by the latter to avoid public uproar.
Seattle authorities purchased the UAVs for $82,000 in 2010,
funded by grants from the Department of Homeland Security.
However, neither the city council nor the public was aware of the
police drone program until a 2012 lawsuit by the
Electronic Frontier Foundation over the department’s application
for operation certificates from the Federal Aviation
Administration.
The resulting public outcry over the drones forced the mayor to
terminate the program in February 2013.
“These vehicles were purchased by the Seattle Police
Department using federal grants. There was no cost to the city of
Los Angeles,” police said.
Each remote-controlled vehicle is 3 feet (90cm) wide, has three
rotors and can carry a video camera.
In order to calm public suspicion that the drones will infringe
upon privacy rights, Beck said the LAPD would work closely with
the American Civil Liberties Union during the “vetting
process” of the UAVs.
"I will not sacrifice public support for a piece of police
equipment," Beck said, as quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
"We're going to thoroughly vet the public's opinion on the
use of the aerial surveillance platforms."
The LAPD just got its first set of #drones: http://t.co/6j2SVBvhVN
— Mike Prysner (@MikePrysner) June 3, 2014
The LAPD added it would seek approval from the Police Commission
before unleashing the drones above Los Angeles.
Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU of Southern
California, issued a statement: "The Los Angeles Police
Department asked the ACLU of Southern California to meet and
articulate our concerns about the privacy issues raised by the
use of drones. We agreed to do so…However, at this point the ACLU
SoCal has no plans to participate in any process to craft
policies for LAPD's use of drones, nor have we been formally
invited to lead a team of advocates to help craft such
policies.”
"As the ACLU has previously said, we question whether any
marginal benefits of drones programs justify the serious threat
to privacy they pose."
