UAVs can be powerful surveillance tools by carrying camera systems capable of license plate scanning and thermal imaging, as well as radio equipment and other sensors.
[12][13] Police forces in Xinjiang Province have been using DJI drones for surveillance of the population since the company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with local authorities in 2017.
[14][15] The Deutsche Bahn (German national railways) said in 2013 that it would test small surveillance UAVs with thermal cameras to prosecute vandals who spray graffiti on its property at night.
[20][21][22][23][24][25] In 2005, a fixed-wing drone was used by the Irwin County Sheriff's Office in Georgia to assist in the search for Tara Grinstead, a teacher and former beauty queen.
[6] As a result of the request, the FAA released a list of the names of all public and private entities that have applied for authorizations to fly UAVs domestically.
In Florida v. Riley,[1] the United States Supreme Court held that individuals do not have the right to privacy from police observation from public airspace.
[34] As an example, the American Civil Liberties Union warned of a "nightmare scenario" in the future where the police might be able, with computer technology, to combine mobile phone tracking with video data and build up a database of people's routine daily movements.
[35] In June 2012, Senator Rand Paul and Representative Austin Scott both introduced legislation that would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before using a UAV to conduct surveillance of criminal activities.
[12] EPIC has stated that transparency and accountability must be built into the FAA's system of UAV regulation in order to provide basic protections to the public.
They could be just the visceral jolt society needs to drag privacy law into the twenty-first century.FBI Director Robert Mueller testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on 19 June 2013 that the FBI owns and utilizes UAVs for surveillance purposes.
[39] In October that same year, the United States Department of Justice banned the use of agency funds to acquire drones and other unmanned aerial systems "from foreign groups deemed threats", including DJI.
[43] In October 2014 it was reported that five English police forces (Merseyside, Staffordshire,[44] Essex, Wiltshire and West Midlands) had obtained or operated unmanned aerial vehicles for observation.
[48][49] A license was eventually granted by the Civil Aviation Authority, but the UAV was lost soon after during a training exercise in Aigburth, Liverpool, when it crashed in the River Mersey.