In New Media, we have rewritten the Province newspaper article VPD purchases three drones for investigations by Susan Lazaruk as an internet based article, found below.
VPD Introduces Drone Surveillance Program
admin | September 18, 2019
The Vancouver Police Department has recently purchased three camera-equipped drones to be put into use by the end of the year. These drones, which together cost $140,000, will be used to monitor and investigate, among other things:
- Hostage situations
- High-risk arrest warrants
- Car crashes
- Disaster zones
- Large public events
As there are natural concerns about the potential for privacy invasions, the VPD has released a privacy impact assessment in collaboration with the BC privacy commissioner and the BC Civil Liberties Association. In addition, the VPD has assured that “all reasonable efforts” will be taken to not to use the drones for general surveillance, except during extreme situations where there is a high risk to public safety. Any footage not deemed evidence will also be erased after 30 days. The drone use policy and relevant documents can be found here.
One of the drones in use is the FLIR SkyRanger R60, intended for government and industrial users with a base range of up to 3 kilometres and a camera capable of both visible light and infrared imaging. The other two drones are the commercial grade Mavic 2 Enterprise, a smaller platform also equipped with infrared imaging, and the consumer grade Spark, designed for ease of use.