![]() "For right now, there's no law stopping a 13-year-old from buying one of these at Best Buy and flying over (Comerica Park). He takes aerial images for construction companies and other clients.įor safety reasons, Arnold said, he welcomes better regulations over civilian drone use. Harry Arnold paid more than $4,000 to make and equip the four-propeller drone he uses in his home-based business, Detroit Drone. What we picked up from Brookstone is what you can pick up for your 10-year-old kid." "High altitude, many hours of orbiting and, in some cases, carrying a lethal payload. "When people hear the word drone, I think they think of what's being deployed in the Middle East," Bouchard said. He also pointed to a train derailment years ago that spewed toxic fumes in the air, preventing a helicopter from getting close. But Bouchard said the incident was a perfect example of when a similar device could be valuable to law enforcement. The cost of drones versus helicopters makes them appealing to cash-strapped police departments.Īt the barricaded gunman scene in West Bloomfield, the quadricopter, designed to be controlled by a smartphone or tablet, was not stable enough to be useful. It's less expensive to have a drone," he said. "Often when the cost of surveillance goes down, people do more of it. Ryan Calo, a privacy law expert and professor of law at the University of Washington, said the widespread use of drones in the U.S. Drones available for purchase online or in stores today for hobbyists range in size from about 5 inches wide up to 3 or 4 feet. The Department of Homeland Security uses them to monitor borders and ports.ĭrones can be equipped with high-powered cameras, microphones, infrared devices and other high-tech tools.Ī technically advanced cousin of remote-controlled model planes, the commercial and hobbyist versions range in price from less than $100 to thousands of dollars, depending on their size and sophistication. The FAA has allowed drones, also known as unmanned aerial systems, to be used domestically for years for environmental monitoring, firefighting, disaster relief and search and rescue. "We don't want Big Brother flying over watching all our activities." Tom McMillin of the drone legislation he intends to introduce next week. "The bill is really designed to make sure that we're protecting people's rights," said state Republican state Rep. Lawmakers in several states, including Michigan, are weighing rules to regulate the use of drones. ![]() ![]() in about five years, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.Īs domestic drone use has grown, so have concerns about privacy, safety, regulation and the potential for abuse, including fears of unwarranted spying on people by police agencies or even by other citizens. About 7,500 small, commercially operated drones - not including drones flown by public bodies - will be active in the U.S. They can be deployed in a police standoff, sent up to give firefighters real-time information on a fire or used by a real estate company to create an aerial video tour of a home for sale.Ī federal law enacted last year streamlined the process for public agencies, including police departments, to get drone licenses and paved the way for commercial use. Most are much smaller and far less sophisticated than the Predator drones used by the U.S. Perhaps best known for their role in military operations overseas, an increasing number of drones are taking to U.S. "I was unwilling to send my people into a firefight without having any kind of information on what they were going into," Bouchard recalled. ![]() Drone 2.0 App-Controlled Quadricopter.īouchard hoped that the camera-equipped, remote-controlled drone, with its ability to hover in midair, would allow police to see inside the house without putting more officers' lives at risk. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard sent a deputy to a Brookstone store to buy a $300 Parrot A.R. He had already killed one police officer and fired shots at others. DETROIT - Last September, a gunman barricaded himself on the top floor of his West Bloomfield, Mich., home. ![]()
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