They say that what goes around comes around and what goes up must surely come down. But sometimes these things happen embarrassingly fast and that is certainly the case for the red faced boys in blue on Merseyside…
Within a week of the Liverpool police delight at their first arrest using a remote controlled spy in the sky camera, the tables are turned as they find themselves nicked. Ironically the mini chopper’s remote controllers had their playtime cut short after an eagle eyed hack at the Guardian had been watching from afar – and then tipped-off the CAA that a remote controlled CCTV drone was being used by the police without a licence.
Up until that point the police thought they were free to use their latest spy cam due to a loophole in UK law whereby these £40,000 bits of super-snooping kit, complete with thermal imaging capabilities, were categorised as ‘toys’. This meant that police could deploy them in what ever way took their fancy. And so it was that the Derbyshire force used their new toy to keep an eye on the attendees at a BNP rally last August.
However, some senior police officers have shared concerns raised by civil liberties groups that expanding use of such surveillance drones is a step to far in the relentless expansion of Big Brother systems. According to a First Post report, Hampshire’s deputy chief constable, Ian Redhead, had warned of an “Orwellian situation” with cameras on every street corner, while Colin Langham-Fitt, acting chief constable of Suffolk, had said: “There should be a debate about the ongoing erosion of civil liberties.”
Nevertheless, it was the Liverpool fuzz who were first to make an arrest by using their remote controlled spy cam. Unfortunately for them though, that legal loophole was closed by a change in the law that came into force on the January 1st this year. Since then, all drones under 7kg need Civil Aviation Authority permission to fly within 164ft of people and within 492ft of buildings.
I rather doubt if this is the last we will see or hear of these drones though. And, with hugely powerful forces like BEA systems developing such kit, I’m sure it will only be a matter of time until license to use them are duly issued…