Have you ever had that strange sensation that you are being watched? You casually glance around to see if anyone is staring at you. You do not see anything unusual, but you cannot shake the feeling. You can feel someone’s eyes on you as the goosebumps begin to spread, but you just cannot locate the source. Is it simply paranoia on your part or is this a side effect of living in a time where there are cameras everywhere you look? Cameras are on streetlights at intersections, in nearly every store and many homes, and on every police squad car. Cameras are also in the pockets of almost every single person that you see. What is the one place that has not been taken over by prying eyes? Not too long ago, one might have said the sky; however, it is likely that is no longer the case.
The drones that have been used so frequently in foreign wars are beginning to turn their gazes upon the United States. Drones are an exciting new tool for police officers and a terrifying new threat in the eyes of civil libertarians. Police drones have the potential to save thousands of lives—they also have the potential to keep an entire nation under constant surveillance and systematically remove any semblance of privacy.
A passage from George Orwell’s nightmarish vision of life in a surveillance-state society, written long before drone technology surfaced, eerily resembles the issue that this article attempts to discuss:
The black-mustachio’d face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house front immediately opposite. Big Brother Is Watching You, the caption said . . . In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with a curving flight. It was the Police Patrol, snooping into people’s windows.
How can society deal with such powerful new technology? This article seeks to answer that question by examining Supreme Court cases, the constitutionality of police drone use in Minnesota, and current legislation put forward by other states. This article concludes by making a recommendation for an ideal statute controlling police drone use. The article begins by giving a general background of drones and drone technology.