Law Enforcement Use of Drones: What You Need to Know

As drones become more prevalent in the commercial and recreational spheres, their use by law enforcement is also growing. While drones provide tools to aid investigations and enhance officer safety, their use also raises important questions about privacy and civil liberties. As a criminal defense lawyer representing clients whose cases may involve evidence gathered by drones, it’s critical to understand law enforcement drone programs. This post provides an overview of how agencies are using drones, the policies guiding their use, and key considerations surrounding law enforcement drone operations.

How Law Enforcement Uses Drones

Law enforcement utilizes drones in a variety of ways, including:

  • Gathering intelligence before executing a warrant or operation, like identifying a suspect’s location or surveilling a building’s layout beforehand.
  • Supporting active operations by live streaming video or using drones’ spotlights at night. They can track suspects exiting a building or illuminate areas where evidence may have been discarded.
  • Documenting crime and accident scenes by providing aerial perspective. Drones give a valuable vantage point in reconstructing the events.
  • Searching for suspects, missing persons, or items using drones’ capability to cover ground rapidly. They are a useful force multiplier in manhunts.
  • Enhancing officer safety from a distance, such as communicating with barricaded suspects or assessing hazardous areas like explosive crime scenes before sending in personnel.
  • Patrolling borders, coasts, or jurisdictions to interdict criminal activity using drones’ video, radar, and sensor capabilities.

In sum, drones provide visuals, lighting, and sensing technologies to aid investigations, operations, searches, patrols, and crime scene analysis. They can access hard-to-reach locations and scope out situations before putting officers at risk. Their aerial vantage provides a unique operational perspective.

Florida Limits on Police Drone Use

Under Florida Statutes § 934.50, state and local law enforcement agencies generally cannot use drones to gather evidence or other information unless a listed exception applies. Those exceptions include a judge-approved search warrant, certain urgent circumstances, and evidence collection at crime or traffic crash scenes. Other exceptions permit traffic management and monitoring crowds of at least 50 people, subject to statutory limits. The uses described above therefore require a separate review of the legal authority for each flight.

Section 934.50(6) bars evidence obtained or collected in violation of the statute from use in a Florida criminal prosecution. If police gathered evidence unlawfully, a defense lawyer can raise the issue through a motion to suppress.

Federal Policies Guiding Drone Use

Federal drone investigations must comply with the Constitution and applicable laws and regulations. A 2015 presidential memorandum directed federal agencies to adopt privacy safeguards, review their policies at least every three years, and publish annual summaries of drone operations. Its public-disclosure requirements allowed agencies to protect sensitive law enforcement and national security information.

The Department of Justice’s drone policy sets rules for approved investigations, flight approvals, training, reporting, and privacy reviews. It supersedes DOJ’s 2015 guidance and requires each component to adopt rules suited to its operations.

These internal rules do not themselves create enforceable rights. A challenge to drone evidence must identify the legal grounds for excluding it, such as an unconstitutional search or a violation of an applicable evidence-exclusion statute.

Key Considerations and Concerns

Law enforcement drone use raises important considerations:

  • Adherence to current policies and constitutional principles in gathering evidence via drones. Does it comply with presidential directives, agency rules, and judicial standards for reasonable searches?
  • The possibility of expanded persistent aerial surveillance of the public and resulting privacy implications. Drones enable monitoring of large areas for extended periods.
  • Chilling of First Amendment-protected speech if drones monitor protests, rallies, or religious ceremonies. Surveillance could discourage participation.
  • Enhanced police capabilities that should align with transparency and community trust. Unfettered use risks undermining public confidence.
  • The ability to equip drones with technologies like facial recognition, thermal imaging, and license plate readers raises further privacy issues. Some jurisdictions restrict these technologies.
  • Safety from unauthorized drone use near critical sites, infrastructure, or sensitive operations that might compromise security.

Drone investigations raise questions about where officers flew, what they recorded, and whether they had legal authority to gather the evidence. For a closer look at surveillance around a home, see our discussion of whether police can use drones to spy on your backyard without a warrant.

If you or a loved one is facing criminal charges involving evidence gathered by a police drone, call (305) 538-4545 for a confidential initial consultation, or complete our confidential intake form using the button below. Please include details about the investigation so we can respond to your inquiry.

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