UAVs: Answering Your Questions

"There are numerous resources for UAV training today. Companies are offering in-person flight training to help new pilots become proficient with their specific equipment. Although there is no specific flight proficiency training required to legally operate a small UAV weighing 55 pounds or less, it is strongly advisable. What IS required, if you intend to operate a UAV commercially (and yes that includes for law enforcement purposes), is that you obtain an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate. The irony here is that you are not required to know how to operate a UAV, but you must understand legalities and airspace issues to obtain your Part 107 certificate. You can literally never have flown a UAV, but study the subject material, be tested, and become a legal Part 107 commercial UAV pilot. Is that smart? Obviously not, from anyone's standpoint. And bear in mind that part of operating as a Part 107 Remote Pilot is understanding you are completely responsible for the flight. While the rulemakers took care to not make the regulations overly burdensome by requiring that you receive flight training on every specific UAV you intend to use, they do make it very clear that you are completely responsible for the flight and your actions therein. Understandably, to ensure compliance with the regulations you need to secure some form of flight training on your specific UAV system. Whether you receive flight training from a co-worker or a commercial instructor, ensure that you are competent with the equipment so that you can remain in compliance with Part 107 which requires you to operate safely.

Many UAV suppliers will provide flight training, at a cost or even free of charge, to paying customers. We at UAS, LLC choose to provide the flight training at no cost, because it's in everyone's best interest that we have competent drone pilots flying in our airspace. That's good for the industry as a whole, and what's good for the drone industry is good for any drone company.

When it comes to Commercial Drone Pilot Training, there are 2 sides to that coin—Voluntary Flight Training, and Mandatory Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification."—Rhodes, UAS LLC

"CyPhy requires PART 107, which is the FAA requirement, along with PARC Operator Training (CyPhy's drone platfom. What sets CyPhy apart from other drones is that its patented tether enables a greater ease of use and makes it simple for new users to operate as compared to free flying drones. Since PARC is autonomous it enables law enforcement to be focused on the use of the payload instead of focusing their energy on flying the drone."—Brozena, CyPhy Works

2. How do you decide which is the best drone to use for my needs?

"There are many drones available to purchase in the professional and consumer markets, however, budget and optical capabilities are critical when deciding which drone best fits the department’s needs. We recommend that law enforcement seek 'commercial grade' drones, such as those produced by DJI including models like the Matrice 200 series since they support better optical systems and are built for reliability. For the DJI Matrice, we produce a FUSE Tether System, an addon that enables nearly unlimited flight duration and improves safety because the tether provides uninterrupted power from the ground."—Erdberg, Drone Aviation

62% Don't Own a Drone

If your agency hasn't taken to the skies yet, you're not alone. 62% of our respondents report that their agency do not own a land-based, airborne or underwater drone. The search continues though as 1/3 say they do plan on buying one in the next year.

The remainder? It's no surprise to hear the majority have a lack of budget for a drone, but hope is not lost. A number of respondents say have partnered with multiple agencies and share ownership. Not only will this share the cost, but might just allow some more ideas as to where and how to use it—it makes no sense to leave it in its case.

"Choosing the right drone depends largely upon the missions a customer wants to accomplish with it. For those in the law enforcement/public safety community, those missions will include search and rescue, surveillance/sting operations, aerial monitoring of hostage/standoff situations, aerial pursuit assistance, monitoring of large public events, and more. The nature of these missions demands that a drone system has long-distance operating range, a stabilized zoom camera, extended flight duration, and preferably a thermal camera as well. Another strong recommendation is the ability to fly the drone wearing flight goggles or using a very large monitor. Why? Imagine searching for a lost child while flying with only a smartphone or small tablet as your monitor, in bright midday sunlight. With the sun glaring on your smartphone, it may be difficult or impossible to see a child on the screen from altitude. However, wearing flight goggles, the pilot has a large screen in front of his eyes in an almost completely dark environment. This can and will exponentially increase the ability to see small objects or persons on the ground. Bear in mind to stay legal, while the pilot is flying with goggles he must use another person as a 'spotter' who keeps their eyes on the aircraft at all times while it is in flight."—Rhodes, UAS LLC

3. What types of drones are available for law enforcement?

"The main two types of drones available for law enforcement at this time are Multirotor and Fixed-Wing. Multirotor aircraft are what we commonly refer to as quadcopters, hexacopters, and octocopters, meaning they typically get their lift through the operation of 4, 6 or 8 propellers. Fixed-Wing drones are basically an advanced version of a model airplane. While fixed-wing drones can be useful in long-range missions, most law enforcement/public safety users will benefit most from a multirotor, due to its ability to take off and land in a very small area, and its ability to hover over a target area."—Rhodes, UAS LLC

Most Popular

Of the agencies who own a drone already, the overwhelming majority use models from DJI, like the Inspire, Matrice, and Phantom. Other brands mentioned were Aeryon, Leptron Unmanned Aircraft Systems, and Yuneec USA. Multiple respondents say they own a number of the same models as well as different. One could come to hypothesize that there isn't one UAV to fit all scenarios, situations and environments. What might match your needs? A fixed wing? A multirotor (like a quadcopter) or would something thethered work better?

"CyPhy’s PARC is payload agnostic. This enables the drone to fly different payloads depending on the needs. Payloads include a surveillance camera, sensor detector, cellular, communications and many more. Thanks to this capability, PARC is the best drone to increase situational awareness for ground forces. For example, if law enforcement officials are dealing with faulty or down communication lines, they have the ability to send up PARC to create cellular network."—Brozena, CyPhy Works

4. Considering Florida v Riley (1989), what are the legal issues today surrounding search warrants, developing probable cause and flying over someone's property? How does this fit with first amendment rights?

"Considering the amount of controversy surrounding cases such as Florida v Riley, it is virtually impossible to predict whose favor such a court ruling may fall into, as the judges themselves were at odds on how to rule. What we do know is that at least as far back as 1946, with the case of U.S. Vs Causby, the court has decided that navigable airspace is free and open to the public and under federal authority. A landowner has right to use his property at ground level plus as much airspace above it as he chooses to reasonably build a structure within. Beyond that, you get into what is considered navigable airspace, and to my knowledge, no landowner has won a case in court that prevented that airspace from being safely and legally traversed by any type of aircraft. Although a person's 4th Amendment rights should always be respected, as brought to light in Florida v Riley, no person can expect full privacy when their property is in plain view from a public passage, including the navigable airspace above that property. (continued below)

"The FAA is mindful of privacy concerns and has been actively engaged with ;our interagency partners to address this issue. We have provided support to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) multi-stakeholder process,which recently resulted in publication of voluntary best practices.

The FAA provides all drone users with the NTIA’s recommended privacy guidelines as part of the unmanned aircraft registration process and through the FAA’s B4UFly mobile app. The FAA will issue new guidance to state and local governments on drone privacy issues." - FAA

However, bear in mind that a case of privacy invasion could be made in certain circumstances. Imagine if you were walking down a sidewalk next to a backyard fence. You're in very close proximity to private property but you're just passing by, so no harm, no foul. Now imagine if you stopped, stood there and peered through a crack in that fence for hours. At this point, you're quickly becoming a Peeping Tom and have crossed a line into privacy invasion. The same scenarios apply to drones and even full-scale aircraft. If you're passing by heading from A to B, nobody thinks much about it. Hover closely over a backyard for more than a couple minutes and the landowner will understandably begin to have major problems with your presence. Just like with the sidewalk scenario, even though you may have the legal right to be there, it is your conduct while near that private property which may land you in legal trouble. A good dose of common sense goes a long way here."—Rhodes, UAS LLC

"Due to the rapid development of UAS technology, the use of UAS by law enforcement has not yet been clearly addressed by courts. The primary legal issue facing agencies is privacy. With the advanced technologies associated with UAS, it’s not clear how courts will apply current Fourth Amendment principles, including those in Florida v. Riley, to the use of UAS."—Robles, Lexipol

5. Where can I find information to start building my policy and procedure guidelines?

"CyPhy provides operator training on PARC to ensure organizations fully understand the product's capabilities; this training can be case-based and customized for the end user; this enables organizations to document how they intend to use the system, key parameters for use, etc." - Brozena, CyPhy Works

"There are various broadcast systems that can be utilized to collect and distribute video collected by the drone. We have developed and successfully demonstrated live streaming capability utilizing a proprietary cellular LTE backhaul technology which is capable of securely distributing full motion video."—Erdberg, Drone Aviation

"Having the ability to stream video in real time to a command center or other locations is something our customers have requested and utilized for a number of years. Thankfully, establishing and maintaining a robust video stream is easier today than ever. If your drone's ground station has an HDMI output, you can utilize HD streaming devices from companies such as Teradek and Livestream to broadcast from the field over a WiFi or LTE cellular connection to any viewer who has access, anywhere in the world."—Rhodes, UAS LLC

"With PARC, CyPhy’s flagship product, video can be streamed directly to the command center using the law enforcement agencies own network. PARC’s patented, Kevlar-reinforced, microfilament tether enables secure communication, making it easy for law enforcement to examine the surveillance videos collected by the drone in real-time to better assess and manage a situation as it unfolds."—Brozena, CyPhy Works

7. Where can I find regulations for police-use of drones for my state?

"As long as they conform with FAA regulations it’s up to the state or municipality to make their regulations."—FAA
Editor's Note: You should be able to find state regulations on the UAS Regulations Policy page on the FAA website.

8. What are the recommendations regarding night vision capability?

"Depending on the application, there are IR (Infrared) cameras developed for drone use produced by companies like FLIR. It’s important to note, depending on which system your drone supports, users can be impacted by a limited field of view and low zoom capabilities."—Erdberg, Drone Aviation

"Night flight opens up a whole new range of possibilities for drones, but along with that comes a few legal requirements. Licensed Part 107 drone pilots must still secure a Daylight Operations Waiver before taking to the skies after dark. Your drone aircraft must also be equipped with anti-collision lighting. Once the safety and legality items are out of the way, we can begin to consider night vision options. Either a thermal or infrared camera give the pilot the ability to see but not be seen, but most agencies will opt for a thermal camera system instead of the infrared."—Rhodes, UAS LLC

9.Is it a felony or misdemeanor to shoot at, damage or down an LEO owned drone?

"I'm not aware of any rule or law that specifically applies to intentionally damaging an LEO owned drone, although it may exist in certain areas. Certainly, common laws applying to intentional property damage would apply. There are also other considerations here, such as interfering with the duties of a law officer and endangering the public by causing a 10-pound drone to plummet from the sky onto bystanders. Even though there (may) be no specific law that prevents this, shooting down a law enforcement drone clearly puts the perpetrator in an acute position of legal liability."—Rhodes, UAS LLC

"Title 18 is the statute that governs damage to aircraft." - FAA

10. Are there any grants and funding available?

"Grants and other funding are occasionally available toward the purchase of a law enforcement/public safety drone system. Some of these may be federally-funded but don't stop your search at the federal level. One of our customers is a Sheriff's Office that has a nuclear power plant in their county. The nuclear plant offered a block of grant money toward the purchase of a law enforcement drone system, as another line of defense in securing the plant grounds and perimeter, and as a tool for emergency response efforts. These monies helped the Sheriff's Office to purchase the drone system, to the benefit of the power plant, other agencies, and the citizens of the county.

Even if your search for grants comes up empty, that may not be the end of the funding assistance story. Consider partnering with other agencies within your county who will benefit from access to the system. For example, the Sheriff's Office might pay the bulk of the cost and therefore maintain possession of the aircraft. But the City Police might pitch in a percentage and have access to the drone system for monitoring public events or for special operations as they arise. The city utilities department might contribute toward the purchase and then have access to the drone to inspect power lines, water tanks, bridges and drainage systems. The Fire Department might pay a percentage of the drone system cost, and then be able to utilize the drone's infrared camera to monitor hotspots in a burning building, or use the drone's normal-color camera to monitor a forest fire's progress from above and keep firefighters out of harm's way. Once you have two or three other agencies on board with your vision for a professional-grade drone system, everyone will benefit from a super-capable aircraft at a fraction of the price since no agency will likely ever use the system full-time every day."—Rhodes, UAS LLC

11. What are the primary usages of drones in law enforcement, like locating drug growing operations?

"We believe there are many applications in law enforcement where drones can play a vital role because of their ability to provide an aerial vantage point. Ideal applications of drone use by law enforcement could be aerial monitoring of large facilities such as sports arenas, emergency response as well as perimeter protection of critical infrastructures like bridges, power plants, and water treatment plants. The critical requirement here is that the drone has persistence, meaning they can fly for a long duration while providing operators on the ground with critical information and situational awareness. This need for persistence is something we have heard from law enforcement and first responders and is why we created the FUSE Tether System which enables some of the most popular drones produced by DJI like the Matrice 200, to extend their flight duration from the typical 20 minutes to multiple hours through a dedicated connection to uninterrupted power from the ground."—Erdberg, Drone Aviation

78% Use Theirs for Search and Rescue

Law enforcement use drones in a multiple number of situations and scenarios, it's clear that agencies aren't purchasing one drone for a single use. 78% of you are report that you are using your drone/s for "Search and Rescue" type missions. Other options were...

• SWAT/Tactical: 63%
• Security/Surveillance: 69%
• Evidence Searches: 54%
• Body Recovery: 38%
• Crime Scene Reconstruction: 62%

Our survey allowed for multiple answers to this question.

"Primary uses include search and rescue, hostage/standoff negotiation operations, aerial monitoring of large public events, pursuit assistance, and more. Larger drones can also be outfitted to lift and carry objects (water, food or phones to hostages, etc), or even carry a public address system to speak to persons below.

To a certain extent, they can also be used to locate drug growing operations, although outside of the use of an NDVI camera or normal-color camera I'm aware of no specialty sensor equipment that can be added to the aircraft and utilized for that purpose. That having been said, the drone sensor industry is evolving every day as companies implement new technologies into sensor packages that can be attached to drone aircraft. Moving forward, I see much of the progress in the drone industry happening in the area of sensors and accessories. As manufacturers and customers get past the fact that drones can fly, they will look at them more as a flying tool bag. When that notion begins to strike them, they will turn their attention and focus as we have, toward developing the next generation of sensors and accessories to make drones even more effective and useful."—Rhodes,UAS LLC

Law enforcement agencies around the country use drones to collect evidence and conduct surveillance. Most of the time, police agencies use unmanned drones to monitor traffic, correctional facilities, control crowds, photograph crime scenes, on-demand situation awareness, secure communications and more."—Brozena, CyPhy Works

"Appropriate and legal uses of a UAS vary based on the location and needs of an agency. Common uses of drones include search and rescue operations (e.g., locating lost hikers and missing persons) and traffic collision reconstruction. The same mapping technology that facilitates traffic collision reconstruction is also being used for the analysis and mapping of crime scenes. UAS have also been used in police pursuits, hostage situations, surveillance and assessment of active-shooter incidents, tracking escaped inmates, prison monitoring, bomb threat assessments, SWAT team operations, and crowd control operations, including riot prevention, identifying possible threats, and locating persons within the crowd in need of assistance. Other uses that are becoming more common include investigative surveillance and the assessment of damage and public safety response during or in the immediate aftermath of disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis."—Robles, Lexipol