By Rick Orlov
Daily News
LOS ANGELES — As local officials debate whether and how to make use of drones, the Los Angeles Police Commission on Monday announced it has placed two of the devices under the authority of the LAPD’s Inspector General until an official department policy is adopted.
Police Commission President Steve Soboroff said the two Draganflyer X6 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which originally were a gift from Seattle Police Department, have been held by a federal agency while the commission holds six months of community hearings on their use.
“I want to assure all that there has been no decision that UAVs will be utilized in the City of Los Angeles,” Soboroff said. “There will be no deployment of these vehicles until the commission completes a thorough review of the proposed policies and protocols.
“The proposed policies and protocols will be reviewed publicly by the commission, and the public will have opportunities to address the commission directly with their concerns.”
Inspector General Alexander Bustamante said his office will secure the vehicles and will not deploy them until a policy is formalized.
“These two vehicles will be secured in my offices, and I will not release them to anyone, including the LAPD, until and unless the commission authorizes their release. In the meantime, these two UAVs will not be used or operated in any manner,” he said.
Mayor Eric Garcetti has said he will wait to hear from the Police Commission before deciding how the drones should be used, if at all.
Last Friday, Garcetti appeared at a news conference with Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, R-Thousand Oaks, to urge the governor to sign Gorell’s A.B. 1327, which lays out a series of concerns on the use of the drones.
Among other things, the bill would require police agencies to obtain warrants before the unmanned aircraft could be used, except in emergency situations and special cases including traffic accidents, fires or environmental emergencies such as oil spills.
“The future of aviation is unmanned,” Gorell said in support of his bill. “As we prepare for this next generation and new frontier, we must ensure all Californians that the state has put forth guidelines to protect their civil liberties and privacy rights.”
As such, the bill would also would require agencies to destroy any data collected within a year unless it is needed for a criminal prosecution.
Seattle PD used federal grants to purchase the drones but decided to scuttle their use because of the public outcry against them.
In Los Angeles, a group calling itself “Drone Free L.A./No Drones” has established a website and Facebook presence to update the public on its series of news conferences demanding LAPD not use the drones and that members be allowed to meet with Garcetti before any city policy is cemented.
Hamid Khan, president of the group, said its primary concern centers on the increasing militarization of police agencies, noting online that he seeks “the termination of government sanctioned spying.”
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