Law-enforcement technologyOhio country authorized to use drones to look for missing persons

Ohio police drones to be used in missing person cases // Source: s5461.net

The Medina County Sheriff’s Office has recently  been authorized to fly drones on police missions.

Tom Miller,  the county’s new sheriff, said the drones will be used specifically for looking for missing people or suspect who may be hiding in the woods.

“About two or three times a year in Medina County, we have maybe kids or seniors with Alzheimer’s who have walked away, and they live in rural areas so quite often there are woods,” Miller told Fox 8, adding “the sooner we can look for them the better off we are.”

Mmany  are uncomfortable with drones flying over their homes and concerned about being spied on, University of Akron professor J. Dean Carro says many people think they have privacy in places where they do not.

“People are flying over your property all the time, albeit from a high altitude, they are still flying over your property,” Carro told Fox 8. “So society is prepared to say ‘well you have an expectation for privacy from the ground level but no expectation of privacy from over flights.’ The drone is simply an unmanned vehicle, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the enjoyment of the property, creating down-wash or things like that, the courts will probably say it’s permissible.”

“The yard is exposed to public view. The yard is not protected.” Carro added. “The home is a different story, if they start using infrared cameras to look inside the home that brings to mind another case.”

Fox8 reports that the sheriff’s office is using the TAV-200, a 2.2 pound drone which, according to Miller, is equipped only with a thermal imaging camera designed to help search for missing people.

“We’re not spying. I don’t want somebody with a helicopter or anything else up above my house while I’m out having a barbecue on a Sunday afternoon,” Miller said. “But if my grandson is missing, and we can’t find him, every help that’s available, I would like to think that law enforcement can do to find him that’s really what this is meant to do.”

 “We don’t want to abuse the public in terms of search and seizure. We aren’t using that for that purpose. If there is a reason we would want to or had to we would go to a judge and ask for a search warrant,” Miller added.

Some people in Medina County are still concerned about the use of drones, and Miller welcomes their concerns.

“I think we need that balance in our society,” Miller told Fox 8. “People that are concerned about that versus those who say do whatever you want we need that balance in our group to keep a check and balance on how we do our job. So anything I can do to assure them that we are not there to violate that fourth amendment, to violate their rights, but merely to save lives is what we are trying to do.”