As we discussed on our blog yesterday, St. Paul police are utilizing drones to arrive on the scene of 911 calls sooner to catch more criminals and provide responding officers with updated information. These robotic tools certainly seem like they can be an asset for community safety, but how can police use these drones throughout the city without first getting a warrant to fly in certain spaces? In today’s blog, we take a closer look at the law that explains when police drone use is authorized in Minnesota.
Police Drone Use Authorization
If you’ve ever noticed a drone flying above you, there’s a chance you may have been a little freaked out by its presence. Somebody could be watching you from afar, and that feels unsettling, but is it illegal? From a police use prospective, law enforcement is authorized to use an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) if any of the following 11 conditions are met:
- During or in the aftermath of an emergency situation that involves the risk of death or bodily harm to a person;
- To document evidence that is at imminent risk of destruction;
- Over a public event where there is a heightened risk to the safety of participants or bystanders;
- To counter the risk of a terrorist attack by a specific individual or organization if the agency determines that credible intelligence indicates a risk;
- To prevent the loss of life and property in natural or man-made disasters and to facilitate operational planning, rescue, and recovery operations in the aftermath of these disasters;
- To conduct a threat assessment in anticipation of a specific event;
- To collect information from a public area if there is reasonable suspicion of criminal activity;
- To collect information for crash reconstruction purposes after a serious or deadly collision occurring on a public road;
- Over a private area with the written consent of the occupant or a public area, for officer training or public relations purposes;
- For purposes unrelated to law enforcement at the request of a government entity provided that the government entity makes the request in writing to the law enforcement agency and specifies the reason for the request and proposed period of use; and
- To facilitate the active search for a missing person.
In other words, the bar is pretty low for police to be able to fly these drones into an area where you’re located without the need to obtain a warrant ahead of time. All they need is “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity in the area or any of the other reasons on the list, and UAV use is justified.
If you feel like the use of a UAV violated your rights during the course of your arrest, or more likely, a police officer violated your rights during the course of an investigation, reach out to the team at Appelman Law Firm. Let us review the evidence and ensure everything was handled by the book. If your rights were infringed, we want to help you walk free. Give the team at Appelman Law Firm a call today at (952) 224-2277 for more information or to set up your free case review session.
