Government drone use worth careful review

The use of drones by police agencies has the New York Civil Liberties Union sounding alarms. That’s to be expected. Any surveillance technology, new or old, can in theory be abused for unstated purposes.

The right to free speech, free assembly and privacy without harassment make the proper governmental roles of this growing technology worth careful review. The use of drones is the latest law enforcement method that must be balanced with other statutory and constitutional protections - as has been done with phone data, security cameras, web browser searches and DNA matches. 

In a new report called “Prying Eyes,” the NYCLU lays out relevant facts gathered from the Federal Aviation Administration and other sources. Among them: Eighty-five different government entities across the state have 530 active drone registrations. Of those drones, 327 are operated by law enforcement agencies. The New York State Police holds 126 active registrations; the Nassau County Police Department alone has 33 drones, the most for any local police department.

The range, accuracy and cost-efficiency of these devices are steadily improving. They can “see” faces and license plates better than before, recording video and audio. Some can fly autonomously. 

To absorb the reality of their ubiquity and dominance, glimpse the now-famous photo recently circulated on the internet of Ruslan Anitin, a Russian soldier cornered alone by the Ukrainian military near Bakhmut, surrendering by communicating through an aerial drone's camera.

Nonviolent uses of drones by civilian authorities, on the other hand, are not so fearsome. They include proper monitoring of crowd scenes and properties, tracking of erratic and aggressive drivers, locating lost boaters, and as recently publicized, patrolling for sharks near Long Island shores.

The proper purpose of their timely deployment is key to future policies. Certainly, there should be regulations around their use and detailed records available to the public about their deployment.

“Drones must be subjected to public oversight. We need rules for the public accessibility, retention, and deletion of drone-collected data, and private drone operating companies should be subject to the same rules as law enforcement,” the NYCLU says. “Legislators must recognize that unregulated use of drones by police poses a unique threat to our rights to protest, privacy, and to be free from invasive and warrantless government surveillance.”

That’s all fine as far as it goes. But there are already protections and procedures well established in the law and by state and federal courts. Statutes may need only to be updated to adapt to new technologies, rather than be scrapped and replaced. Public areas are already watched from every direction.

There’s no reason to hinder legitimate uses, which is why the State Legislature should do what it’s supposed to do – rationally probe the situation, hold hearings, and draft legislation that the public and its institutions can live with. Lawmakers shouldn’t take shortcuts when balancing enforcement with rights.