[Infowarrior] - CA plans UAV for crimefighting

[Richard Forno]

<http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_12873450>

Lancaster eye in sky plan aims at crime
By Sue Doyle and Kevin Modesti, Staff Writers
Updated: 07/19/2009 10:42:00 PM PDT

LANCASTER - It could spot burglars breaking into homes from five miles  
away.

It could record unsuspecting bank robbers making their getaways. It  
could
detect car crashes and help police decide how to respond.

But would it also take pictures of you sunbathing in your backyard?

Lancaster officials are developing an "eye in the sky" surveillance  
system
consisting of a camera attached to an airplane that would fly over the  
city
24 hours a day on the lookout for crime. It would relay instant  
footage to
sheriff's deputies on the ground, capturing images up to five miles away
from an elevation of 5,000 feet.

Some civil libertarians and city residents are concerned it may  
represent a
Big Brother-ish invasion of privacy.

But Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, who is developing the system with the
help of renowned aviator Dick Rutan, touts the system as a high-tech  
boost
for law enforcement.

"Suppose your wife is at home and she thinks somebody is breaking in the
back door," Parris said. "We can see it in 30 seconds."

He acknowledged he has gotten calls from residents concerned about  
privacy.

"I'm astonished by how many people have called me and said, `I sunbathe
naked in the backyard or swim naked in the backyard,"' Parris said.

But, he said, when the system is fully developed, there will be built-in
safeguards against misuse. Those details have yet to be hammered out  
by city
and sheriff's officials. With the system still in development, officials
must work out issues ranging from how it will be funded to whether it  
will
be flown by sheriff's deputies or private contractors.

Capt. Axel H. Anderson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in
Lancaster estimated the start-up cost at $1.5 million.

If deployed, local officials believe the high desert city would be the  
first
in the nation to use such a system.

Parris said he thought such high-powered aerial surveillance was a movie
fantasy before Rutan said it could be put into real-life practice and  
began
working on applying the technology. Parris, a civil-litigation attorney,
said Rutan pilots his private airplane.

Parris expects it to take at least a year - and as long as three years  
- to
put the plan into operation.

Anderson recently went along with Parris, Rutan and others on a test  
ride in
an airplane outfitted with an aerial surveillance system borrowed from a
private business.

> From an elevation of 5,000 feet, the camera was able to record  
> images five
miles away, Anderson said.

Anderson said deputies on the ground could type in a location into a
computer system linked to the airplane's camera. The camera would then
target the address, allowing officials to see what's happening before  
patrol
cars arrive.

"It's not good enough to hone in and pick out a license plate," Anderson
said. "But you can really hone in and get a good physical description  
of an
individual involved - height, weight, race, gender, clothing  
description.
That's all quality stuff.

"Although it wouldn't be the quality where you can pick the person out  
of a
lineup."

Anderson said the airplane operator could spot traffic accidents and
suspicious activities and assist patrol officers.

Imagining such a powerful surveillance system, some wonder if it could  
also
tread on the privacy of Lancaster's 145,000 residents.

UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh said the danger is that authorities  
could
film more than criminals and car crashes. He said the equipment would
increase the government's power to see what residents are doing.

"They can't just limit the photos to public streets," Volokh said. "They
could get photos of someone sunning themselves on the back deck."

Despite assurances the surveillance camera cannot closely identify  
people
today, the technology could improve so that it could in the future, said
Lillie Coney, associate director for the Washington D.C-based Electronic
Privacy Information Center.

"They say the detail isn't that good now," Coney said. "There is  
technology
that is that good. Now whether they're willing to invest in it and  
improve
it is another question."

Coney warned that if the system is run by a private contractor instead  
of by
government agents, the public might not have a right to know what data  
is
being collected.

If Lancaster and the Sheriff's Department do iron out the details, the
aircraft carrying the surveillance equipment would be the only one  
flying
above the north Los Angeles County city on a 24-hour basis.

The city of Los Angeles is not considering a similar system.

Two to three police helicopters buzz over Los Angeles on a 24-hour  
basis and
can respond directly to calls when crime breaks, said Capt. Jim Miller,
commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department Air Support
Division.

Miller said the aerial surveillance system proposed for Lancaster  
would not
work in Los Angeles because the job would be too big and costly in a  
city of
Los Angeles' size, and there's too much air traffic over the  
metropolitan
area.

"To a degree, we are already doing what they want to do," Miller said.  
"We
are able to get license plates off cars and very good subject  
descriptions
with helicopters by using binoculars."