This summer, the Spokane Police Department purchased a Dragonfish drone made by Autel. The city council minutes announced the purchase, with the price set at $164,000. Although Spokane police have used smaller drones in the past, the Dragonfish is notable for its two-hour-plus flight time, 20-mile range, and use of artificial intelligence. These capabilities could push the boundaries of surveillance that a court might permit. Let’s explore why this could be concerning.

Capturing images of people or private property from the sky isn’t necessarily problematic on its own. In Dow Chemical v. U.S. (1986), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency did not violate the Constitution by flying an airplane equipped with a “standard, floor-mounted, aerial mapping camera” to photograph a chemical facility from 1,200 feet. The court upheld this practice even though the camera was the “finest precision aerial camera available,” allowing authorities to observe “a great deal more than the human eye could ever see.” Similarly, in Florida v. Riley (1989), the Court upheld the use of a helicopter to spot marijuana plants inside a greenhouse from 400 feet above. The Court reasoned that the helicopter was in public airspace and the crew could not observe “intimate details” within the home. However, modern drone technology could quickly escalate these issues. In 2021, in the case Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle v. Baltimore, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Baltimore Police Department’s practice of monitoring parts of the city non-stop for 12 hours a day. The drones transmitted video data to the ground, which was integrated with city security cameras, license plate readers, and audio detectors for gunshots.

While the Spokane police’s single Dragonfish unit cannot compete with Baltimore’s full-time surveillance program, it does have the capability to fly close to ground level and observe much more than its predecessors. The constitutionality of its use will likely hinge on how the police deploy the drone. Criminal defense attorneys will need to monitor drone use in their cases. Additionally, there is concern about potential misuse by rogue elements within a police department. For example, in 2007, a security officer at the Spokane federal courthouse was charged with voyeurism for using “high-powered” rooftop security cameras to peer into nearby condominiums. A drone capable of flying anywhere, particularly if equipped with facial recognition technology, infrared video, or automated license plate reading, presents a greater potential for abuse.

The greatest threat to the Spokane Police Department’s Dragonfish drone, however, may not be from defense lawyers, privacy advocates, or civil libertarians. Instead, the primary concern is that the drone was manufactured in China, raising national security concerns. The U.S. Department of Commerce has placed Autel, the Chinese drone maker, on its blacklist, prohibiting American companies from doing business with the company. States such as Mississippi, Florida, and Arkansas have recently banned state agencies from using Chinese-made drones like the Dragonfish. While there is new federal legislation proposed to ban Chinese-made DJI drones, this draft legislation does not appear to address the Dragonfish, made by Autel.

For those interested more about the Dragonfish and how it is used in Law Enforcement, see the Autel company’s promotional video here.

So our prior blog posts about drones here and here.

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