Bill Would Let Oregon Police Use Drones to Respond to 9-1-1 Calls, Chase Suspects

A bill that would allow police across Oregon to use drones to respond to 911 calls of crimes in progress, scope out crash scenes before officers can arrive, chase fleeing suspects and search for missing children or elderly adults advanced through a crucial first stage at the Legislature Monday.

Senate Bill 238 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday on a 5-1 vote and is headed to the Senate floor. Sen. Mike McLane, a central Oregon Republican, was the only committee member to vote against the bill.

Supporters say the bill could dramatically increase officer safety, effectiveness and efficiency — and allow Oregon law enforcement to join leagues across the country from California to New York who regularly use the technology to carry out their work.

But opponents say it would hand police unchecked powers and lead to invasions of personal privacy. They also worry drones with cameras recording protesters could be used as a tactic to squelch speech.

Michael Abrams, policy counsel for ACLU of Oregon, told the committee last month that the bill “would provide a legislative blank check for law enforcement agencies to begin deploying seemingly unlimited quantities of drones” and that it would amount to a colossal allocation of power that “could usher in an era of mass aerial surveillance that has a severe chilling effect on our public speech, assembly and movement rights.”

To try to address that, Sen. Floyd Prozanski, a Eugene Democrat and chair of the committee that filed the bill, said an amendment to the bill explicitly bans police from using drones to collect information about individuals who aren’t suspected of committing crimes. The bill also forbids police from using drones for traffic enforcement.

Oregon law already allows police to use drones but only under limited conditions. Police must first obtain permission from a judge. That’s a delay that they say can result in suspects escaping, property being damaged or even people dying. Police also can use drones without a warrant in what’s known as “exigent circumstances,” such as when someone is in immediate harm or suspects are fleeing. But police say those circumstances are too narrow.

In written testimony, Albany police officer Michael Norlander told the committee that even within the confines of current law, his department has managed to deploy drones dozens of times and considers them “one of the most valuable tools in modern policing.”

“I’ve located suspects hiding in places like rooftops and thick brush — locations that would have put officers at risk during traditional searches,” Norlander wrote. “These drones helped us take individuals into custody without injury or conflict, reducing the risk for everyone involved.”

During a hearing last week, Eugene Police Sgt. Kyle Williams said his department has been able to use drones for “numerous captures, from bank robberies to shoplifting.” He cited a specific instance in which officers used a drone to gain tactical information about a suspect who was pointing a gun at people in downtown Eugene. That, he said, ended in a peaceful arrest.

Williams said he’d like to put drones to use far more often.

Sen. Kim Thatcher, a Keizer Republican, asked if police drones are clearly marked, so people who are being surveilled know who is maneuvering the device through the air.

Williams said some have red and blue lights. Other drones might be capable of announcing that they’re police-owned.

“More often than not, we’d rather have a noisemaker or a light because we want to get people’s attention, so they know they’re being watched and it will influence their behavior in some way,” Williams said.

At least 1,400 police departments nationwide use drones, according to a 2023 ACLU report. It’s unclear how many of those agencies are required to first obtain warrants or show exigent circumstances.

According to Axon, a law enforcement technology company, the devices not only come with video cameras but can be equipped with thermal imagers for nighttime detection and loudspeakers to convey orders or information to people.

In 2022 in a suburb north of Oakland, police responded to a hotel where a suspect reportedly was threatening employees and guests with a gun before disappearing out of view for about 30 minutes, according to news reports. Police sent in a drone to find him sleeping on a couch in the lobby. Police said they then entered and arrested the man without incident.

Last year in New York City, police announced plans to start using drones to crack down on a surge in assaults, robberies and other crimes in the 843 acres of Central Park.

On Monday, at the Capitol, McLane offered no explanation why he was the sole committee member to oppose the bill. The committee’s only other Republican, Thatcher, voted for it. So did the four Democrats on the committee: Prozanski; Sen. Anthony Broadman, D- Bend; Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D- Corvallis; and Sen. James Manning, D- Eugene.

____________

Visit oregonlive.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.