Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/342119
23 www.officer.com July 2014 Law Enforcement Technology MOBILE UNMANNED VEHICLES tion of the Fourth Amendment, and those doctrines would apply." The truth is, an open interpretation of tech laws as they pertain to "a rea- sonable expectation of privacy" leads to lawsuits and more taxpayer money tied up in courtrooms. This is true, too for data collected with body worn video, security cameras, smartphones, you name it…hence cases where citizens have argued—and won— the right to record video and audio of public officials in a public place (Glik v. Cunniffe settled in Boston at $172,000; or Sharp v. the City of Baltimore PD, settled for $200,000). Flying blind Drone regulation is a work in prog- ress, and everyone's got an opinion. An FAA representative at the second annual sUAS Business Expo in San Francisco told audiences there might be exemptions in the near future for "low-risk" applications such as preci- sion agriculture, filmmaking, and industrial and power-line inspections, the focus being on applications that reduce the number of people perform- ing risky work in helicopters or atop ladders. These operations also happen in relatively controlled environments. Law enforcement and journalism were not mentioned, although the conversa- tion is far from over. "I think over time we will hear posi- tive use cases for the technology— people will be rescued, stranded hik- ers—there are already stories like that. I think the benefits will become more apparent as the technology continues to be used. But of course, that's the problem," says Brendan Schulman. On Virginia's UAV moratorium: "To me that's like shooting yourself in the foot and saying we're going to completely close our mind about beneficial uses of technology." Osterreicher agrees: "If the FAA doesn't develop some common sense and realistic rules, and they don't get input from the entities that are out there seeking to use it, we're going to have the same kind of free-for-all that we have today, which is everybody's doing whatever they want." For his part, Osterreicher consid- ers his training to law enforcement a chicken soups of sorts, "It may not help, but it certainly doesn't hurt," he says. In his mind this sort of education is a win-win-win: citizen journalists get to do what they're allowed to do under the constitution; officers don't get into trouble, and taxpayers don't end up spending wads of money to settle cases that should never have happened to begin with. ■ Circle 23 on Reader Service Card AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO MOBILE DEVICE FORENSICS. AccessData and Mobile Phone Examiner (MPE+) are registered trademarks of AccessData Group. ©2014 AccessData Group EMPOWER YOUR INVESTIGATIONS. www.accessdata.com/mobile-phone-examiner 800.574.5199 MPE+ Mobile Phone Examiner Plus ¨ LET_18-23_Drones0714.indd 23 6/25/14 11:58 AM