Shades of 'The Prisoner'

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>From the Los Angeles Times

EDITORIAL

Straighten up and fly right

Sheriff's droning publicity stunt crashed.

 

June 26, 2006

 

LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF Lee Baca's plan to use

unmanned, remote-controlled surveillance planes hit

unexpected turbulence last week.

It wasn't just the crash landing of a drone at a media

demonstration or the opposition of privacy rights

activists; it was the Federal Aviation

Administration's objection that the drones had never

been cleared for takeoff. But the controversy, while

undeniably entertaining, has been blown out of

proportion.

 

The planes — essentially motorized kites fitted with

batteries and low-quality cameras — would quietly

survey the landscape at an altitude of less than 300

feet (comparable to a model aircraft) and beam

pictures to deputies flying them from below.

They would move at less than 30 miles per hour, too

fast to see through windows but too slow to aid in Los

Angeles' favorite pastime, the high-speed chase. The

Sheriff's Department, which helped develop the planes,

says the drones in the pilot program will have limited

uses, such as searching for lost hikers.

 

Given the primitive nature of the drones' technology,

it's hard to see how the Sheriff's Department could

tout them as the future of policing. At the same time,

it's hard to get too worked up about the concerns of

privacy activists.

Forget fears that a candid-camera-in-the-sky could

identify anyone — a brown beanie would be

indistinguishable from a brown head of hair. The most

a deputy flying the current prototype could determine

would be details such as gender, clothing color and

approximate height.

And with a small battery, a small fleet and the

personnel costs to operate the planes, the chances

that an unnoticed aerial guest could be used to check

out the hot tubs of Malibu (or Van Nuys, for that

matter) are virtually nil.

 

But the FAA was correct to ask questions about the

program. The Sheriff's Department noted that

recreational model aircraft that fly at a low altitude

do not have to obtain a certificate of authorization.

But a mini-squadron of low-flying police drones — the

next step after last week's demonstration at an

abandoned field — raises more safety concerns than a

father and son flying a model plane on the beach.

 

Perhaps future drones may be able to catch a thief or

identify a criminal on the run. Until then, Baca could

best serve the public by keeping the prototype out of

the hands of paparazzi.

 

Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times