Vancouver police buys its first three drones for investigations but not surveillance
Credit to Author: Susan Lazaruk| Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2019 04:54:13 +0000
Vancouver police have bought their first camera-equipped drones to be used to investigate car crashes, analyze crime and disaster scenes, and for search-and-rescue by the end of the year, despite “concern” over using them to surveil citizens.
The VPD prepared a 13-page “privacy impact assessment” with input from B.C.’s privacy commissioner and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association to ensure the operation of the drones doesn’t invade citizens’ privacy, said Vancouver police Supt. Steve Eely on Tuesday.
“All reasonable efforts” will be made not to use the three drones for surveillance, he said. “And any imagery that’s not evidentiary will be purged after 30 days.”
“The potential use of RPAS (remotely piloted aerial system) for surveillance can be a concern, generally speaking,” a spokeswoman for the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C., who didn’t want to be named, said in an email. “Our understanding, however, is that VPD’s policy sets limits on the use of RPAS and only authorizes their use for the purposes set out in their policy.”
In a letter to the VPD, the privacy commissioner noted the force’s proposed use also includes critical incidents that include hostage situations, active deadly threat scenarios, high-risk warrants, a suicidal person or barricaded suspects.
The privacy commissioner office also said it agreed that under the provincial freedom of information and privacy law the VPD would “likely” be able to collect personal information for law-enforcement purposes.
The VPD said drones will not be used for random surveillance “except in exigent circumstances where there is an imminent risk to life or safety,” the commissioner’s letter said.
The three drones, one large one that cost $100,000, and two smaller ones that, with training, cost the force about $40,000, have been purchased and are awaiting approval from the Vancouver Police Board on Thursday, said Eely. His report to the board recommends the board approve their use.
Drones will primarily be used in crashes where they provide “unique points of view” for investigation and reconstruction, he said. And they can record footprints and tire treads before investigators arrive on scene and evidence “not apparent to the human eye.”
An RCMP drone photographs evidence at the scene of a shooting at 100th Avenue near 156th Street in Surrey on April 2, 2019.
The drones will also fly over large public events, such as the English Bay fireworks, for crowd monitoring with the goal of “maintaining and improving public safety,” said Eely.
The drones would be used to direct officers on the ground to criminal acts, he said.
Chinese police were shown in a viral video this week using a drone to direct a young man on a scooter to put on his helmet.
“It is not our intention to make physical contact with anyone,” said Eely.
The drones won’t at first be used for countermeasure drone activity, which can shoot illegal drones from the air, but “we’re looking at countermeasure options,” he said.
Drones are already used by 17 Canadian police departments, including those in Abbotsford and Saanich, said Eely.
The VPD released a 22-page internal policy document that lays out uses and costs. It’s available on the police board’s website.
If the board approves the use of the drones, the VPD hopes to have them in use before the end of the year.
The privacy commissioner spokeswoman said: “We will be following up with the public body in October to ask how the implementation of the policy is progressing.”