ACLU concerned about police drone

THE CHRON:

As the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office gears up to employ an unmanned helicopter to hunt criminals and find missing persons, civil liberties advocates are concerned about the spy in the sky used for policing.

Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel of the sheriff's office said the $300,000 ShadowHawk drone - purchased from Vanguard Defense Industries with federal homeland security grant funds - will take to the air in the coming months to provide another tool in the law enforcement arsenal.

"It's an exciting piece of equipment for us," he said. "We envision a lot of its uses primarily in the realm of public safety - looking at recovery of lost individuals and being able to utilize it for fire issues."

It also could be used, he said, to provide surveillance for officers serving a warrant at a specific location. It would not, however, be used to track suspects' vehicles. McDaniel said that manned helicopters would continue to be used for that purpose.

The unmanned craft will be controlled by a pilot using a laptop with a game-like console, and it comes equipped with a powerful camera and heat-seeking device mounted on the front.

ACLU concerns

In the future, the drone could be equipped to carry nonlethal weapons such as Tasers or a bean-bag gun, McDaniel said.

Kirsten Bokenkamp, spokeswoman for the Houston-based American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said the drones raise concerns because there are not enough safeguards in place to protect citizens from unreasonable search and seizure.

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"It's just another example of technology that is outstripping our lives," she said. "What we mean by that, is the technology moves so quickly and the interpretations of the Fourth Amendment are failing to keep up with the technology. That brings privacy concerns."

"Further," Bokenkamp said, "the use of drones kind of takes the place of good old-fashioned detective work, and it allows for a more pervasive surveillance than we've been accustomed to or that we know about."

McDaniel disagreed, saying the 50-pound drone is an extension of the aerial resources currently available to law-enforcement agencies - manned helicopters from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Houston Police Department.