Police chief wants to use drones to spy on citizens
St. Louis - In Chief Sam Dotson’s vision of modern policing, a drone would circle Busch Stadium to watch for terrorists, or silently pursue a criminal who thought the chase was over when the officer in the car behind him turned off its red lights and siren.
And Dotson is working to make it happen.
“Criminals believe, and with some truth, that if they flee from police officers, officers will not pursue and they will ultimately elude capture,” Dotson wrote in a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration. It was a preliminary step toward seeking approval for unmanned - and unarmed - flight.
“If we are serious about crime reduction strategies, we must look to new technologies which help keep officers and the public safe and apprehend criminals,” he said in the March 25 correspondence.
Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, whose assent is required, also wrote to the FAA to offer “enthusiastic support.” She declined to elaborate, saying through a spokeswoman: “The letter speaks for itself.”
Dotson said he would seek donations and grants to pay for the miniature airplanes, which run from $60,000 to $300,000 each — pricey, but still cheaper and safer than a helicopter.
Privacy advocates such as the American Civil Liberties Union — already grappling with recent news that the FBI has been selectively using drones for surveillance over U.S. soil — are balking at word of Dotson’s contact with the FAA.
“This is a significant expansion of government surveillance,” complained Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of ACLU of Eastern Missouri. “Our laws have not kept up with our privacy rights. Our Fourth Amendment privacy rights aren’t safe from unreasonable search and seizure when you’re looking at drones.”
"This is a case where our technology has gotten far ahead of our laws and our ability to protect us from unwarranted government intrusion," said Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri.
Dotson said drones are not capable of anything that helicopters don’t already do — or that existing laws don’t already protect.
“This isn’t Big Brother, this is a decision to make everyone in the community safer,” he insisted.
"To help keep officers safe, to help keep the community safe. For monitoring public space, things like the upcoming Fair St. Louis, baseball games for terrorist, suspicious activity," said Dotson.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/st-louis-police-chief-wants-drones-to-monitor-city-from/article_1f0a7488-855d-52cf-9590-03129ce48a06.html
http://www.ksdk.com/news/crime/article/385622/147/St-Louis-police-chief-wants-to-use-drones-to-fight-crime
