One of the many high-tech gadgets being marketed this week at the International Association of Police Chiefs Convention in San Diego are small unmanned aircraft, that can fit in a police cruiser’s trunk.
Operated from the ground by a trained deputy sheriff or police officer, the $50,000 UAS would be able to be set up and launched within five minutes of an emergency arising and then provide quiet, eye-in-the-sky surveillance.
Perhaps the UAS would follow a car chase and capture the image of the bad guy running into a house. Perhaps it could locate a missing child in the woods. Perhaps it could show SWAT officers exactly what’s on the other side of that wall where a suspected gunman may be hiding.
One of the booths at the police chief’s convention, which began Saturday and runs through Wednesday, is operated by AeroVironment Inc., or AV, which has been producing various lines of small unmanned aircraft for the military for years.
But as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq wind down, the company is looking to expand into civilian law enforcement.
Many people have concerns about privacy rights when it comes to drones being used in noncombat situations. The company is well aware.
AV, which is based in Monrovia, held a news conference Sunday afternoon to show off its latest drone, the Qube, which weighs five pounds, is only three feet in length, can fly as high as 500 feet, and can stay airborne for 40 minutes.
The aircraft can take off and land vertically and can quietly hover over a location focusing its dual high-resolution color and thermal cameras and transmitting those images to a screen on the ground.
One of company’s consultants is a former Glendale Police sergeant who now works with the Grand Forks, N.D., Sheriff’s Department, one of a handful of agencies in the country experimenting with the UAS.
Alan Frazier, an assistant professor for the Aviation Department at the University of North Dakota, said at first he thought about the covert surveillance opportunities the drones represent. But he’s changed his mind.
“I don’t think the public is ready for that right now,” he said.
Instead he believes any agency that buys into the UAS programme should carefully think about what uses they will be put to and inform the public of what they are doing at every step of the way.
“I think the implementation of this technology, just as with the implementation of any type of new law enforcement technology, needs to have a healthy respect for the Fourth Amendment and for the privacy of the individuals that we protect,” he said.
Roy Minson, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AV, said the Qube has been designed specifically to meet the needs of civilian first responders but it is only one of many models the company has produced, including one as small as a hummingbird and one with a wing span of a Boeing 767 (175 feet) that can fly for days five to seven days at a time.
The Qube will likely be marketed mainly to smaller agencies that can’t afford manned aircraft, Minson said. However there is some debate within the company whether larger departments might also be interested since helicopters can’t be everywhere.
Of the few agencies around the country currently involved with drone programmes — several are in Texas and Florida — none are in San Diego County.
Poto: Qube – AeroVironment
Source UT San Diego