State Report Reveals Dramatic Increase in Drone Flights Despite Modest Budget Growth
By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill
The state of Minnesota reported that the variety of times police agencies within the state deployed drones and not using a warrant nearly quadrupled over the past 4 years, from 1,171 such missions in 2020 to 4,326 flights in 2023.
In keeping with data released earlier this month, over the identical time period, the amount of cash spent on police agency drone programs increased only barely, from about $922,411 to about $1,065,677.
The annual cost of police agency UAV programs had fallen dramatically in 2022 to about $646,531. Nonetheless, over the following two years the identical costs rose by about 65% to the extent seen in 2023.
The most recent data is contained in a legislative report, released by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) on the police agencies’ use of unmanned aerial vehicles within the yr 2023.
Under state law, starting in 2020 all of Minnesota’s law enforcement agencies that maintain or use an UAV are required to report the next data to the BCA by January 15 regarding the prior calendar yr:
- The variety of times a UAV was deployed and not using a search warrant
- The date of every deployment
- The authorized use for every deployment
- The entire cost of the agency’s UAV program.
The BCA had developed a submittal form that allows law enforcement agencies to report data on their UAV usage in a uniform manner, making it easier for lawmakers and most of the people to trace police drone usage within the state over time.
In its most up-to-date report for the yr 2023, the BCA collected data from 99 police and sheriff’s departments and other law enforcement agencies. The report noted that that police agency usage of drones in circumstances where a warrant is just not required has risen steadily within the 4 years that data has been collected.
At about $124,713, the Minnesota State Patrol had the highest-cost drone program in 2023, while the St. Paul Police Department has the second-highest cost program, with $100,000 spent on drones and related equipment.
Why Police are Flying Drones
Of the 4,326 UAV warrantless missions that police agencies within the state in 2023 almost twice as many flights were for training or public relations purposes as those flown in emergency situations.
Last yr, essentially the most common purpose given for conducting a warrantless drone flight was “flying over a public area for officer training or public relations purposes.” This was the rationale given for a complete of 1,986 missions flown. The second commonest purpose for warrantless police drone flights, at 1,031 missions, was “during or within the aftermath of an emergency situation that involves the chance of death or bodily harm to an individual.”
Other common purposes given for warrantless drone flights were “to gather information for crash reconstruction purposes after a serious or deadly collision occurring on a public road,” 603 missions, and “to gather information from a public area if there may be an affordable suspicion of criminal activity,” 398 missions.
Less-common purposes for such flights included, “to conduct threat assessment of a selected event,” 47 missions, and “to counter the chance of a terroristic attack by a selected individual or organization if the agency determines that credible intelligence indicates a risk,” which accounted for nine missions.
Mission Trends Remain Consistent
Despite the expansion within the variety of warrantless missions flown over the past 4 years, the trend in the explanations given for flying those missions has remained pretty consistent.
For instance, in 2020 the best variety of such missions, 506, were flown for training and public relations purposes. The second-highest variety of warrantless missions, 352, were flown for emergency situations.
Six warrantless missions, flown in 2020 were for threat assessment, while no anti-terrorism missions were flown that yr.
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