The Nova Scotia RCMP is buying five unmanned aircraft systems for a budgeted sum of $165,000 for the purchase, or $33,000 apiece.They will be outfitted with thermal cameras and a video camera that can stream live images back to the operator steering the aircraft with a remote control.
UAS use is regulated by Transport Canada. The RCMP is licensed to use UAS for crash scene investigation, traffic accident reconstruction, search and rescue, major crimes investigations and emergency response team calls.
One privacy expert warns that UAS could be used in intrusive ways, such as filming through a house window. “They already do that with binoculars from one building to another,” said McInnes Cooper lawyer David Fraser.
“There really are very few limits on what law enforcement can do with respect to tracking, particularly in places that are publicly visible.”
Fraser said UAS have many helpful uses, such as flying over a forest with infrared cameras to track down someone who is lost.
But he said people might have concerns about UAS with infrared cameras flying over neighbourhoods looking for marijuana grow-ops, which give off heat.
“When it comes to law enforcement using UAS I think we need a much better discussion and understanding on what they propose to do with it,” said Fraser.
While the purchase is a first in Nova Scotia, RCMP detachments across the country have been buying UAS. RCMP in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and Newfoundland and Labrador all use the devices.
The local detachment has outlined several criteria for their new aircraft.
They must be able to automatically land and take off vertically. They must be able to hover in a fixed position within one metre of accuracy. They must weigh less than six kilograms and be able to be launched within five minutes.
They also must be able to fly in stormy weather, including rain and snow, and face temperatures as low as -25 C. The UAS must be able to be operated from at least 500 metres away.
The infrared cameras alone could cost $10,000 apiece, said Richard Van der Put, co-owner of Cape Breton-based SkySquirrel Technologies Inc., which sells UAS.
Van der Put said modern UAS tend to operate for 20 to 40 minutes at a time, can be operated from 25 kilometres away or more, and can hover in place within a margin of mere centimetres.
Source: Herald News