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New Night-Vision Capable Drone Marketed to Police

Loaded on Feb. 15, 2024 by Anthony Accurso published in Criminal Legal News February, 2024, page 17
Filed under: Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance. Location: United States of America.

by Anthony W. Accurso

Skydio, a popular drone manufacturer, released the new X10, whose main selling point is an infrared camera, which allows it to track people and fly autonomously in the dark.

The company began making hobby drones about a decade ago, selling them to athletes who wanted something like an autonomous aerial GoPro, which could follow and film them without requiring the athlete to hold or wear the camera. However, in 2020, the U.S. military approved Skydio’s drones for off-the-shelf use in missions, expanding the company’s market to government agencies and large corporations like BNSF railway.

Yet, the X10 is designed to appeal directly to law enforcement. It can be stored in the trunk of a police car and can be modified with add-on accessories designed to fit in its four expansion bays. Current options include a speaker, spotlight, and a parachute for emergency landings. Its maximum speed is a swift 45 miles per hour. The infrared camera is the main feature though, with 65x zoom allowing it to read a license plate from 800 ft away and follow a vehicle from up to three miles away.

At its launch in late September 2023, CEO Adam Bry said the company wants to “get drones everywhere they can be useful in public safety.” And New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that such drones could be used to “stop high-speed chases,” presumably by tracking fugitives until they can be surrounded and forced to surrender.

This model may also be paired with the autonomous launch dock Skydio introduced last year, allowing these drones to launch without operator interaction when the city’s ShotSpotter audible sensors detect gunfire nearby.

Civil liberties and police watchdog groups have raised concerns that police departments lack rules limiting drone use, especially in connection with other surveillance tools, further eroding privacy and the exercise of free speech such as during protests.  

 

Source: wired.com

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More from this issue:

  1. Geofence Warrants: The Mass Location Surveillance and Privacy Threat Created by Google May Be Eliminated by Its Creator, by Anthony Accurso
  2. Minnesota Supreme Court Announces Odor of Marijuana Alone Emanating From Vehicle Insufficient for Probable Cause to Search Under Automobile Exception, by Anthony Accurso
  3. Michigan Supreme Court: Defendant’s Statements Involuntary and Inadmissible, by Douglas Ankney
  4. Tales From the ‘Tails’ of Bloodstains, by Douglas Ankney
  5. New Jersey Supreme Court Excludes CSLI Testimony Based on Agent’s ‘Rule Of Thumb’ Method for Determining Defendant’s Location, by Anthony Accurso
  6. New Night-Vision Capable Drone Marketed to Police, by Anthony Accurso
  7. Missouri Supreme Court Orders Dismissal of Pending Charges Where Trial Court Failed to Bring Prisoner to Trial Within 180-Day Limitations Period Provided for in ‘Interstate Agreement on Detainers’, by Douglas Ankney
  8. Third Circuit: Defendant Not on Rental Agreement Had Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Car Because He Had Dominion and Control of Car Where Renter Gave Keys to Him, He Was in Possession of Them Upon Arrest, and Car Parked Nearby, by Anthony Accurso
  9. NYPD Has Spent Millions of Dollars on Social Media Analysis Tools, by Jo Ellen Nott
  10. New York Court of Appeals: Forensic Findings Establishing Possible Alternative Cause of Injuries in Sex-Crime Prosecution Admissible Under ‘Interest of Justice’ Exception to Rape Shield Law, by David Reutter
  11. The Diminishment of Miranda Is Leading to False Confessions and Conviction of Innocents, by David Reutter
  12. FBI Works to Expand Court Authority for Its Offensive Cyber Operations, by Anthony Accurso
  13. Fifth Circuit Announces Revocation Judgments for Violation of Supervised Release Vacated Because Underlying Sentence Vacated, by Anthony Accurso
  14. Third Circuit: Defense Counsel Ineffective Under Strickland Where Counsel Sat Silent After Judge Threatened to Charge Witness With Perjury Unless Testimony Changed, by Douglas Ankney
  15. Study Raises Alarms About Inaccuracies and Bias in Gun Forensics Reporting, by Jo Ellen Nott
  16. Ninth Circuit Announces District Courts Must Either Orally Pronounce All Discretionary ‘Standard’ Conditions of Supervised Release in the Presence of Defendant or Provide Conditions in Writing Prior to Sentencing, by Douglas Ankney
  17. The Problem with Some Non-Carceral Punishments, by Carlo Difundo
  18. Researchers Find Fiber Evidence Lasts Longer Underwater Than Previously Thought, by Jo Ellen Nott
  19. Who Let the Dogs Out? Robotic Dogs Are the Newest (and Scariest) Surveillance Tech in U.S. Police Departments, by Jo Ellen Nott
  20. After Ohio Becomes 24th State to Legalize Recreational Marijuana, What Next?, by Jordan Arizmendi
  21. DHS Allows CBP and ICE Officers to Create Fake Social Media Profiles to Track Subjects of Interest and Conduct Investigations, by Jo Ellen Nott
  22. Fourth Circuit: Walking Past Unoccupied Home With Bulging Pocket and Attempting to Evade Neighborhood Tipster Insufficient for Reasonable Suspicion to Seize and Search, by Anthony Accurso
  23. Harris County, Texas, Settles Civil Rights Case for $1.5 Million Brought by Innocent Man Shot in His Home Five Times by Trigger-Happy Deputy, by Jo Ellen Nott
  24. DEA’s Domestic Surveillance Mission Creep: Beyond Drugs, Beyond Protests, by Jo Ellen Nott
  25. New Mexico Supreme Court Announces Marquez’s Holding That ‘Crime of Shooting at or From Motor Vehicle Cannot Be Predicate Felony Supporting Charge of Felony Murder’ Is New Substantive Rule and Applies Retroactively, by Douglas Ankney
  26. The Potential Privacy Threat of Generative AI, by Michael Thompson
  27. Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Testimonial References to Post-Arrest Silence Cannot Be Used Against Defendant at Trial, Pre-Arrest Harmless Error Analysis Does Not Apply, by Anthony Accurso
  28. Evidence Shows When Researchers Work Alongside Cops in the Field, De-escalation Training Is Implemented and Effective, by Douglas Ankney
  29. Data Mining: Law Enforcement Pays Cash for Your Private Data and Saves on the Hassle of Complying With the Fourth Amendment, by Douglas Ankney
  30. Sixth Circuit Announces Due Process Right to ‘Prompt’ Post-Seizure Hearing While Government Deciding Whether to Initiate Forfeiture Proceedings and Holds Wayne County’s Vehicle Forfeiture Program Violates Due Process, by Matthew Clarke
  31. Idaho Supreme Court Announces Adoption of ‘Primary Purpose’ Standard for Reviewing Police Decision to Impound Vehicles and Conduct Inventory Search to Prevent Pretextual Searches in Violation of Fourth Amendment, by Anthony Accurso
  32. Steady Improvement in Techniques for the Analysis of Degraded DNA, by Douglas Ankney
  33. Indiana Supreme Court Announces Civil Forfeiture Triggers Right to Jury Trial, by Matthew Clarke
  34. Study Finds Public Defenders’ Heavy Workloads Prevent Effective Representation, Amendments to 50-Year-Old Guidelines Recommended, by Douglas Ankney
  35. Kentucky Supreme Court: Trial Court Abused Discretion by ‘Rehabilitating’ Juror Who Indicated Could Not Be Impartial and Failing to Strike Juror, by David Reutter
  36. Identification Via DNA, Fingerprints, and 3D Scanning of Footwear, by Douglas Ankney
  37. Vendors Late to Recognize the Serious Threat of Cell-Site Simulators, by Michael Thompson
  38. Car Culture Dramatically Increases Number of Cop Confrontations, by Matthew Clarke
  39. News in Brief

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