Just so no one gets the wrong idea, for our guys to deploy a drone, there has to be something pretty serious going on. I never had a situation where law enforcement used one of ours to spy on anyone.
This doesn’t mean the opportunity for abuse doesn’t exist (and I am sure some idiot will certainly take that advantage) but we only come into play (on the law enforcement side) when a swat team needs an extra eye, someone is missing in a wooded area at night, fugitive tracking, or a surveillance issue to help guarantee the safety of men on the ground apprehending a suspect.
As far as using it to spy on the general public, it’s just not a good platform as far as our aircraft are concerned. The real issue at heart is, while I was flying to find the lost person in the woods I saw a house in the distance with our FLIR system and it is obvious there are high intensity grow lights burning or you spot a crop of marijuana growing in the middle of a corn field and the farmer honestly doesn’t even have a clue its there.
Yeah, right buddy, tell it to the judge will be the last thing the farmer hears prior to posting bond.