Tech"no"Privacy

Some of you may be familiar with the “Plain View” doctrine that came out of the 1987 US Supreme Court Case Arizona v. Hicks.  Basically, it says that a law enforcement officer does not need a warrant to seize an item they immediately recognize as evidence or contraband while they are lawfully present in an area protected by the 4th Amendment.

Think of it this way – if an officer is walking by your house and sees bomb making material in your yard, in “plain view” from the sidewalk or street, he can seize it.  However, if the material is inside your house, out of “plain view,” then he cannot enter your residence without your permission without a warrant, which requires probable cause.

Now lets think about drones.  Are items a drone might be able to see in “plain view?”  I would argue no.  I think US citizens should still have a reasonable expectation of privacy from drones.  Drones should be employed by law enforcement as another search tool once a warrant is issued.  Otherwise, we can imagine many scenarios where the technology could be abused.  For example, lets say in a sparsely populated county in Montana there’s a particular rancher no one really likes, including the Sheriff.  If the Sheriff is allowed to fly his drone whenever/wherever he wants, he could certainly fly it over this rancher’s property just looking for something to hem the guy up.  Basically, he’s being targeted, with no probable cause, just because the people around town don’t like him.

However, I certainly believe drones have a place in law enforcement.   Lets say the Sheriff has probable cause that the aforementioned rancher has some contraband cached on his property, so he obtains a warrant to search the property.  Instead of soaking up a lot of resources and man hours searching all over the property, it makes perfect sense that he should be able to employ his drone to help.

Lets also consider emergency situations.  Imagine a high speed chase, or a shootout.  Drones certainly seem appropriate to use to follow suspects driving recklessly in the interest of public safety.  And, if armed suspects are barricaded behind some sort of bunker or around a corner, it makes sense to be able to use a drone to go conduct reconnaissance and help police determine their course of action.

In the end, I think drones can be a valuable asset for law enforcement personnel to employ in emergency situations or when a legal warrant is granted, but should not be used simply for patrolling, out looking for someone to mess up.