LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's new model-plane-sized aerial surveillance vehicle flies soundlessly, but it has created a considerable buzz.
After department officials conducted a second demonstration of the midget aircraft for the media recently, a peeved Federal Aviation Administration effectively grounded it because it wasn't certified to fly.
A Sheriff's Department spokesman protested, saying, “We did everything legally – I mean, we're the Sheriff's Department.”
Privacy advocates also have raised concerns about the so-called unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, pointing out its use needs to be limited to prevent it from becoming Big Brother's eye in the sky.
“I really have no problem using it to search for lost hikers or missing children or for Alzheimer's patients,” said Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. “But flying 'fishing' expeditions would not be acceptable.”
Sheriff's Cmdr. Charles “Sid” Heal, who oversees the department's technology exploration unit and has worked for the better part of a decade to develop the plane, calls the FAA paperwork hold-up a simple misunderstanding, and says the privacy concerns, while valid, are overstated.
Heal has unflagging enthusiasm for his pet project.
“This can go places a helicopter can't go,” he said. “It's so portable we could carry it in our trucks or on our backs. And we can fly the UAV at night or in fog when helicopters would be grounded, or at low altitudes, or when we need to keep our presence a secret.”
But “it's not perfected yet,” he added.
The 4½-pound, 6-foot-wide plane is officially in the development stage. It can stay aloft for about an hour, cruise almost soundlessly and take high-quality video footage that is transmitted to deputies on the ground.
Heal – who originally demonstrated the UAV's capabilities to Copley News Service and other media in February – envisions using it to monitor hostage situations, follow criminals trying to get away on foot, search for lost hikers and in other situations where helicopters are impractical or unavailable. In many instances, it could help deputies avoid getting injured or shot, he said.
Givens said the Sheriff's Department needs to spell out for what it will and won't use the flying camera. Just because helicopters are allowed to fly overhead doesn't mean the UAV should have the same latitude, she said.
“You know when a helicopter is hovering over your back yard,” Givens said. “You would not know if a drone were monitoring your neighborhood, because it's silent and small.”
Heal agreed limits are needed and said a policy will be written. He also pointed out the aircraft's camera isn't sharp enough to peer into windows or identify specific people. Pre-existing laws for helicopters also will govern how UAV video can be used in court, effectively governing the plane's practical uses, he said.
Heal would like to see one drone in each of the Sheriff's Department's 20 stations – especially if the predicted price of $20,000 to $30,000 a plane decreases, as he anticipates.
First he'll have to finalize that pesky paperwork with the FAA.
In an e-mail, Heal said that “the misunderstanding between the FAA and the (Sheriff's Department) is the functional equivalent of someone missing a luncheon appointment.”
FAA officials – who point out that they have to make sure the surveillance vehicle doesn't create conflicts with other aircraft in the Los Angeles area's crowded airspace – are standing fast.
“We sent them paperwork to apply for a certificate of authorization to fly the vehicle,” spokeswoman Laura Brown said Friday. “They haven't sent the application back yet.”
