Name: Ramsey County sheriff seeks public comment on drone privacy issues
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Ramsey County sheriff seeks public comment on drone privacy issues

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By | Pioneer PressRamsey County is looking for public input on a drone policy for the sheriff’s office.The purpose of the policy is to establish guidelines for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones as well as how to handle the images taken by the drone in regards to privacy concerns. It is similar to the privacy issues regarding body cameras where the camera may capture more than what is relevant to the case, such as the interior of a person’s home.A drone can be helpful to public safety by assisting in the search for missing children, assisting in water or public area rescues, protecting police from unnecessary danger, pursuing a suspect who poses harm to the community and conducting damage assessments following a disaster.Photos and video taken from a bird’s-eye view can pose a privacy risk to those not involved in the emergency.According to the policy, sheriff’s deputies must adhere to Federal Aviation Administration guidelines and cannot intentionally record or transmit images of any location where a person would have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as a backyard.A state statute, which went into effect in August, limits how public safety officers can use drones. Police departments must obtain a search warrant before using drones with the following exceptions:The new law prohibits facial recognition or other biometric-matching technology on drones, unless authorized by a warrant. It also disallows equipping drones with weapons. Law enforcement agencies are also prohibited from collecting data on public protests or demonstrations unless authorized by a warrant.“The balance between public safety needs and privacy needs was always a part of the discussion, and the Legislature did a pretty good job of defining that even before they gave us authority to have them,” said Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher.The sheriff’s office has used drones in the past and hopes to purchase more in the future, Fletcher said. The policy will conform the department’s practices to the new law.The sheriff will appoint a program coordinator who will be responsible for the management of the UAV program. The program coordinator will ensure that policies and procedures conform to current laws, regulations and best practices.A public hearing for the policy had been scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed because the Ramsey County board did not feel the sheriff’s department had done enough to engage public comment.“Unfortunately, at this point, commissioners have no evidence that … a proactive process was used in this case,” board chair Toni Carter said. “As of last Thursday morning, prior to posting today’s agenda, the clerk reported that no public comments have been received. We would need to facilitate postponing today’s public hearing until a date yet to be determined to allow the Ramsey County sheriff’s office to engage in a public comment process that closely resembles that which was used for body-worn cameras.”Fletcher said he will be ramping up public engagement in the coming days, mostly through social media.To read the policy and leave a comment, go online to the .We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.Sign up for Newsletters and AlertsFollow UsMost PopularClose

By | Pioneer PressRamsey County is looking for public input on a drone policy for the sheriff’s office.The purpose of the policy is to establish guidelines for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones as well as how to handle the images taken by the drone in regards to privacy concerns. It is similar to the privacy issues regarding body cameras where the camera may capture more than what is relevant to the case, such as the interior of a person’s home.A drone can be helpful to public safety by assisting in the search for missing children, assisting in water or public area rescues,...

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Deanna Weniger

Twin Cities news, sports, politics, entertainment and business from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota's first newspaper.

Ramsey County sheriff seeks public comment on drone privacy issues

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