All of these various uses require the as- surance of the safe operation of UAVs. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) created a document entitled “Law Enforce- ment Guidance for Suspected Unauthor- ized UAS Operations,” which provides information on how to collaboratively work with the FAA to pursue enforcement actions to stop the unauthorized or unsafe UAS operations. UAVs are not a new invention. The military has been utilizing them for years in surveillance. Nevertheless, what has changed is the introduction of UAVs or drones into the mainstream American hobbyist’s life. Rapid advances in technol- ogy have spurred an unprecedented fl ow of drones into the hands of civilians. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) esti- mated that 1.6 million hobbyist-owned small drones (less than 55 pounds) were sold in the U.S. in 2015.
Diverse Uses for UAVs
There are a myriad of opportunities for drones to make many public safety tasks easier. Drones are used for mapping, track- ing wildlife, and search and rescue. In June of 2015, a rescue facilitated by a drone made national news when two young boys fell into a river in Mechanic Falls, Maine while riding an inner tube. Some law enforce- ment agencies use drones to document crime scenes and traffi c collision scenes. Law enforcement has also begun to use UAVs during high-risk calls such as bar- ricaded suspects and other similar SWAT calls where offi cer safety is paramount. For example, in Grand Forks, N.D. in January of 2014, the SWAT team used a Predator Drone owned by the local Air Force to apprehend an armed suspect who had been holding police at bay for over 16 hours. The drone was able to pinpoint the suspect’s location with precise accuracy, al- lowing the team to apprehend the suspect without further incident. This was the fi rst documented drone-assisted arrest.
UAVs Used By Criminals
The usefulness of these UAVs makes them attractive to the criminal element as well. Drones have been used to ferry illegal drugs to prisons. In August 2015, a drone fl ew over the Mansfi eld Correc- tional Institution in Ohio and dropped a package of drugs. In January 2015, a UAV carrying seven pounds of meth-
The FAA has developed guidelines on the use of drones in the common network of U.S. airspace.
amphetamine crashed in a parking lot in Mexico just south of the International Border in San Diego. The fi rst seizure in the U.S. involving drones occurred in April 2015, when a drone dropped 28 pounds of heroin north of the U.S.-Mexico border near Calexico. There have also been a number of secu- rity breaches involving drones. The most newsworthy drone intrusion occurred in January 2015, when a recreational drone crashed on the White House lawn.
Community Concerns of Drone Use
In April 2015, a panel of community mem- bers in San Diego met to discuss the con- cerns of the community regarding UAVs and their use. The panel consisted of a re- tired Navy engineer, the Director of Com- munity Relations for the San Diego District Attorney’s offi ce, a lieutenant for the Cali- fornia Highway Patrol, a chiropractor, an executive secretary, and the Deputy Direc- tor of Training, Research and Education for Driver Training (TREDS) at the University of California at San Diego.
The members of the panel were con-
cerned with the safety of the children in the community and the possibility of sex offenders obtaining pictures of children at local schools. Privacy issues were also raised; the panel felt it was a two-pronged issue. The fi rst issue is one of privacy, i.e., people fl ying drones over
private residences.
The second issue was the public concern regarding the police using drones for un- lawful searches. The group expressed the need for the creation of rules and policies to regulate UAVs. They also acknowl- edged the possibilities of jurisdictional is- sues, and the need for collaborative efforts among the various agencies with a stake in the UAV issue. They all concurred that laws and regulations would need to be in place, understood, and enforced by the ap- propriate authorities.
The Pace of Change
This fast-paced technology has bypassed the creation of rules and regulations nec- essary to safeguard the safety of the pub- lic. The FAA has the primary authority to regulate UAVs. A UAS by FFA defi nition is an ‘aircraft.’ The FAA has developed guidelines on their use in the common net- work of U.S. airspace.
In Law Enforcement Guidance for Sus- pected Unauthorized UAS Operation, the FAA acknowledges the increase in unauthorized use of small UAS. It also recognizes that “State and local Law En- forcement Agencies are often in the best position to deter, detect, immediately in- vestigate and as appropriate pursue en- forcement action to stop unauthorized or unsafe UAS operations.”
In mid-December 2015, the FAA issued an interim fi nal establishing registration.
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