Some law enforcement agencies are looking
to the skies and determining that
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) offer solutions to
maintaining public safety and processing crime scenes.
Standing up a UAS program takes research,
planning and training. Under the right circumstances,
the technology can produce great results.
The Mesa County Sheriff's Office in
Grand Junction, Colorado uses UASs primarily to
assist in crime scene and traffic accident investigations.
Ben Miller, Unmanned Aircraft
Program Director, says the aircrafts' cameras
record information and help officers process it. His fixed wing aircraft and quad copter
are more than cameras. With the help of computer
apps that come with the aircraft and the addition
of readily available apps like Google Maps,
these vehicles provide precise measurements
that help officers visually present special
information to investigators and prosecutors.
Photographing a crime or accident scene with
standard equipment on the ground can take
hours or even days. A UAS can fly over the
same scene and take digital images in 20 to 40 minutes.
When Miller is called to a scene
he says the nature of the investigation dictates
which aircraft he will fly. Fixed wing aircraft
require greater launching distance and may
require an assisted launch setup, like a bungee
cord or catapult. Quad helicopters can take
off in smaller spaces. Once Miller selects
the appropriate aircraft, here is how he proceeds.
"In a nutshell, what it looks like when we
show up onto a scene, we're basically going
to make the notification that our FAA approval
requires us to do. And we usually do that
en-route on the phone. We show up on the scene.
We'll tie in with whatever management is there.
They'll kind of give us a brief of what this
is, what we've got. We'll assess the area
we'd like to fly. We'll check if for obstruction
whether that's trees, buildings, antennas,
stuff like that. We'll develop where we're
going to fly and where we're going to make
sure it's safe to do so, etc. We'll pull the
vehicle out, we'll do the quick assembly that is required,
load the batteries, etc. and
a quick pre-flight. Then we take the vehicle off,
go down range, it flies the mission."
Miller plugs in coordinates on a computer
screen and the aircraft takes off and enters
that predetermined perimeter or box. It flies
from the nearest point within the box to the
farthest point and then methodically flies
back and forth in a pattern photographing
everything on the ground.
Back at the office, the images are stitched together and three-dimensional images are created.
"We're not just presenting pictures that say
this is what it looked like. We're actually presenting maps and models. And in those maps and models,
they're geo-spatially accurate
to the real world. That's a fancy way of saying
we can measure in those models and measuring
in a geo-space tells us a lot of things -
The distance is often a significant
factor in an investigation. Distance tells us plausibility.
Can the person actually get
from Point A to Point B as fast as they said they did?"
Miller says the sheriff's office maintains
a digital evidence management systems where
images are tagged and access is restricted
to qualified investigators and their managers.
They give remote access to the district attorney's
office and any viewing or downloading of images
is logged.
"The great thing is that we're
collecting digital information and digital
information has its advantages over the old
way of doing business where there's a potential
to lose evidence; there's the potential to
not totally track when --- the only time we
track stuff is when we write it down.
Every time something happens to this information,
it's logged and we can keep those logs in perpetuity."
Miller set up a demonstration outlining the
use of his quad copter at a traffic accident scene.
Using his software and Google Maps
he: * Selects his add point tool, adds 4 points
over the intersection. These points form a
box delineating the photo survey area.
* Adjusts the box to eliminate obstructions
and to fly at a safe distance away from buildings.
Now the software tells him his survey area.
In this case, it is half an acre. It tells
him it will take one minute and 49 seconds
to fly the mission. Now he activates the quad
copter and it goes to its designated entry point.
The aircraft methodically flies back and forth,
taking photos of the entire box. Using GPS
and other sensors on board, it makes sure
the photography has perfect overlap. After
recording for approximately a minute and a half,
the quad returns to its take off location and lands.
Miller says using an unmanned aircraft to
collect data in a scenario like this has at
least two advantages over doing things strictly
on the ground: It is a quick and accurate
way to process the accident scene and the
scene is cleared and traffic can resume faster.
So, both the sheriff's office and the public
are well served.
Considering public opinion is a key component
of the successful launch of an UAS program.
Talk to community residents before implementing a program like Mesa County's.
A common concern is privacy.
Miller explains that his equipment
is used with strict guidelines, does not eavesdrop,
and does not have the capacity to look through
windows or walls.
"One of the common misperceptions that the
public has is that as these sensors become
greater and greater, and they're just amazing,
is that we begin to invade upon privacies
protected by your 4th Amendment. And, that's
really not the case. As you can see, we're
not looking inside a building.
As concerns arise, law enforcement agencies
can address them with the public. Here are
some common myths about UASs.
* Myth: Law Enforcement watches the general public from
the skies, waiting to find law breakers or
violations. Fact: UASs are generally used
for crime scene and traffic investigations
and fires. Flight time is limited to 20-30
minutes or an hour at most. For this reason,
flight missions must be well defined.
* Myth: UASs carry weapons.
Fact: The unmanned aircrafts used by law enforcement are not military-style drones. They are unarmed.
The FAA prohibits the carrying of weapons on public safety UASs. Period.
* Myth: UASs are outfitted with infrared cameras
that can look through windows and record what
is going on inside private homes.
Fact: The UAS's infrared cameras used by law enforcement cannot see inside windows.
They do not record activity inside of homes.
The Mesa County Sheriff's Office established
its UAS program 6 years ago and continues
to work with industry groups and the Federal Aviation Administration to improve guidelines for their use.
What may have started as a
tense relationship between law enforcement
and the FAA has evolved into a collaboration
that has yielded a more streamlined process.
Former FAA UAS Integration Office National
Law Enforcement Program Manager David Morton
worked on building a more congenial relationship
with law enforcement.
"The FAA is really in a supportive role with
law enforcement and public safety. It is not
an adversarial relationship. It has never
wanted to be. Since I took over the program
as the national program law enforcement manager,
we have had a complete shift in the way we
would deal with public safety people and that
is we lean way, way forward to try to find
ways to accommodate, help, and guide law enforcement in the integration of this technology because
we know it's very, very important. And who better to fly it than the most disciplined group of people."
Morton says the first step for an agency to
set up a UAS program is to review current
state and local statutes to discover if there
are any restrictions or outright prohibitions.
Then, he advises agencies to clearly define
the intended mission or Concept of Operations.
Will the aircrafts be used for crime scene forensics,
traffic investigations, search
and rescue, or SWAT team support?
Different agencies have different needs.
Once an agency identifies those needs and
how UASs can help address them, they may wish to elicit help from an agency with an established program.
Then they can begin to work with
the FAA to receive a Certificate of Waiver
or Authorization (COA) which permits public agencies and organizations to operate a particular aircraft,
for a particular purpose, in a particular area.
These are the steps to approval: * Submit a validation letter from a city, county or state attorney.
* Apply for a COA online account at www.faa.gov/uas/public_operations/.
* Complete and submit the online COA.
Morton says to expect some back and forth
from the FAA during the process to ensure
all the information is complete. Typical approval time is about 60 days from validation of the COA application.
The FAA expects to release the final 14 CFR
Part 107 rule (the new Federal Aviation Regulation
addressing Small UAS) in the near future.
As soon as that new rule is published, agencies
will have the option of complying with this rule
and that will make their access to the
NAS much simpler.
The new part 107 rule stipulates
operators certification (a UAS license), UAS
registration (the aircraft "N" number) as
well as other safety guidelines. However,
the rule may only allow for daytime operations
in non-congested airspace. While there will
be some restrictions to the public safety UAS mission,
it can be assumed this process will be much easier to follow than the current COA process.
A UAS program may or may not be appropriate
for your agency. When weighing the facts about
UASs consider that:
* The price tag for the aircraft
can be in the hundreds of dollars instead
of the tens of thousands that of manned aircraft.
They typically cost less than $25 an hour
direct cost to operate. It costs about
one cent to charge a battery.
* Most of these aircraft
are easy to operate, the computer onboard
flies the aircraft. This allows easier training
to operate as opposed to a manned aircraft.
A word of caution, though. There are small
UAS that have been thoroughly designed with
the law enforcement mission in mind.
There are many others that are entering the mission
space that may not have the utility,
reliability or functionality of more sophisticated models.
As with any purchase: Buyer Beware!
