Why are police departments acquiring million dollar spy planes?
While the nation disputes if, when and where the government should use drones over U.S. soil, Texas state police are taking their surveillance efforts to the next level.
In a little-noticed July purchase, officials at the Texas Department of Public Safety inked a $7.4 million contract with the Swiss company Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. for a high-altitude spy plane. Unique technology affixed to the state’s new aircraft could raise the ire of civil libertarians and privacy advocates.
Among its features is a $1 million array of surveillance cameras with high-resolution and thermal-imaging capabilities, and a $300,000 downlink system that enables the plane’s crew to send real-time surveillance images anywhere in the state, according to records obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting through the Texas Public Information Act. The package will also come with four sets of night-vision goggles worth about $60,000, records show.
The latest fleet addition for Texas has a single engine instead of two, which saves on costs while still permitting a relatively large payload. The Pilatus cabin is also pressurized so it can fly at higher altitudes, up to 30,000 feet in the air.
Texas state police spokesman Tom Vinger said most of the plane’s missions will be carried out on the border between the United States and Mexico, and “serve as a tool in assisting specific joint operations that are clearly defined by area and duration.”
Known as the Pilatus PC-12 NG Spectre (pdf.), the company says the plane was conceived specifically in response to demand from law enforcement. Authorities in Texas expect the aircraft to arrive after modifications sometime next year.
Leonard Luke, vice president of government business for Pilatus, which has operations in Colorado, said the aircraft was developed because both federal and local law enforcement “inquired about the possibility of a surveillance-type platform.”
“Our law enforcement strategy continues to adapt to the evolving threats around us, including the tactics of ruthless drug cartels and transnational gangs,” Vinger said. “… We have a responsibility to protect and serve Texans, and we simply cannot meet tomorrow’s threats with yesterday’s strategy.”
The Texas state police purchase may be just the beginning for police departments around the country and lead to the same complaints critics have made about drones and dragnet surveillance.
The Phoenix Police Department acquired its own $4.1 million Pilatus PC-12 in 2009 complete with an $800,000 high-definition camera that operates in the dark and features “ultra long-range imaging performance,” according to the surveillance system’s manufacturer and records obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration. It’s also capable of transmitting live video feeds to the ground “for surveillance tasks and other public safety applications,” FAA documents show.
Department spokesman Sgt. Trent Crump said the plane serves numerous purposes: monitoring protests and barricaded suspects, covert surveillance of investigative targets, extraditing criminal defendants and transporting detectives in emergency situations.
They rely on the Pilatus to stay airborne for extended periods of time and to climb above restricted areas over the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. As far as the department is concerned, Crump said, current case law doesn’t affect its ability to carry out surveillance flights.
“If you’re needing an eye on a possible homicide suspect or watching somebody you maybe didn’t have probable cause on yet, those are cases we have to solve. Those are ones we’re responsible for,” Crump said.
Using a private company, police in Los Angeles began surveillance flights (.pdf) in August with a small Cessna plane that can linger in the air for as long as 10 hours a day and send live video to a dispatch center.
The program will reportedly cost taxpayers $90,000 per month after an initial one-year $1.3 million contract expires.
The Department of Homeland Security has three of them with cameras that can operate during both day and nighttime conditions. An agency spokeswoman said they are used for border security operations. In addition, the department has a fleet of 10 unmanned drones in its possession or on order.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/spy-planes-domestic/