Police are using drones as flying automated license plate readers (ALPRs), according to a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
And where there is a market, a provider will jump in. Or was it the other way around this time? Flock Safety, for example, recently told a group of potential law enforcement customers interested in Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs that its drone can be used as a flying license plate reader camera as well.
An ALPR system is an intelligent surveillance system that automatically identifies and documents license plates of vehicles by using optical character recognition. This is not necessary for the drones’ main task—it’s an extra feature.
We can definitely see the benefits of the DFR program, which tell police officers what to expect before they arrive at the scene. Increasing situational awareness by using drones makes it safer for both law enforcement officers and the public.
The problem is that drones equipped with ALPR technology can systematically record vehicle location and movement, indifferent to whether it’s in public or private spaces. Unlike fixed cameras, drones can reach places and angles otherwise inaccessible, so they can look in backyards, private driveways, and even through windows.
Depending on the local circumstances, police DFR programs involve a fleet of drones, which can range in number from a few to a few hundred. Low operational costs enable police and their drones to collect and store enormous amounts of data. These practices increase the risk of breaches or leaks. Agencies often keep ALPR and drone-captured data well beyond its useful period, store it on centralized or external servers, and regularly share it with other agencies or federal authorities, according to the EFF.
According to EFF’s Atlas of Surveillance there are approximately 1,500 police departments known to have a drone program. A recent Wired investigation raised concerns about one police department’s program, finding that roughly one in 10 drone flights lacked a stated purpose and for hundreds of deployment the reason was listed as “unknown.”
There is a thin line between unwarranted surveillance and accidental recordings. The EFF states:
“While some states do require a warrant to use a drone to violate the privacy of a person’s airspace, Alaska, California, Hawaii, and Vermont are currently the only states where courts have held that warrantless aerial surveillance violates residents’ constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure absent specific exceptions.”
Combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI)—and these are already operational—drones can become a force to be reckoned with. But we need to start thinking about regulations to limit the privacy implications, so we don’t end up in a surveillance-state society.
Flock has previously described its desire to connect ALPR scans to additional information on the person who owns the car, meaning that we don’t live far from a time when police may see your vehicle drive by and quickly learn that it’s your car and a host of other details about you.
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