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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 870
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4194
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E USE OF DRONES BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) For the purposes of 1
this section: 2
(1) "Law enforcement officer" means (A) a special policeman 3
appointed under section 29-18 of the general statutes, or (B) an officer, 4
employee or agent of (i) the Division of State Police within the 5
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, (ii) a special 6
police force established pursuant to section 10a-156b of the general 7
statutes, or (iii) a municipal police department; 8
(2) "Law enforcement agency" means the special police man 9
appointed under section 29-18 of the general statutes, the Division of 10
State Police within the Department of Emergency Services and Public 11
Protection, the special police forces established pursuant to section 12
10a-156b of the general statutes or any municipal police department; 13
and 14 Raised Bill No. 870
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(3) "Unmanned aerial vehicle" means any contrivance used or 15
designed for navigation of or flight in air that is power-driven and 16
operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from 17
within or on the contrivance. 18
(b) (1) No law enforcement officer shall operate an unmanned aerial 19
vehicle, except under one or more of the following circumstances: 20
(A) A judge of the Superior Court or judge trial referee has issued a 21
warrant in accordance with section 54-33a of the general statutes 22
authorizing the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle; 23
(B) The individual who will be the subject of the information 24
collected by the operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle has given 25
advance written consent to such operation; 26
(C) The owner of the property that will be the subject of the 27
information collected by the operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle 28
has given advance written consent to such operation; 29
(D) The law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that a 30
criminal offense has been, is being or will be committed and exigent 31
circumstances exist that make it unreasonable for the law enforcement 32
officer to obtain a warrant authorizing the use of an unmanned aerial 33
vehicle; 34
(E) The operation is pursuant to training activities conducted by the 35
law enforcement officer while on property owned or leased by the 36
United States, this state or a municipality and does not occur in an area 37
that is substantially populated; or 38
(F) The operation is used to reconstruct or document a specific crime 39
or accident scene. 40
(2) The provisions of this subsection do not apply to (A) any 41
property owned or leased by the federal or state or a municipal 42
government, including, but not limited to, a public park, sidewalk or 43
street, or (B) an individual on such property described in 44 Raised Bill No. 870
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subparagraph (A) of this subdivision. 45
(c) An individual or privately owned property shall be considered 46
to be the subject of information collected by the operation of an 47
unmanned aerial vehicle if the information allows the identity of the 48
individual or the privately owned property to be ascertained or if the 49
law enforcement officer operating the unmanned aerial vehicle 50
acknowledges that such individual or such property was the subject of 51
the information. 52
(d) Information that was collected through the operation of an 53
unmanned aerial vehicle that concerns an individual or privately 54
owned property that was the subject of a warrant may be retained 55
pursuant to the warrant. 56
(e) Information that was collected through the operation of an 57
unmanned aerial vehicle pursuant to advance written consent under 58
subparagraph (B) or (C) of subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this 59
section may be retained pursuant to the terms specified in such 60
advance written consent. 61
(f) (1) Information that was collected through the operation of an 62
unmanned aerial vehicle pursuant to subparagraph (D), (E) or (F) of 63
subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section that concerns an 64
individual or privately owned property shall be reviewed by the law 65
enforcement agency that collected the information not later than ninety 66
days from the date of collection. The collected information shall be 67
destroyed or modified pursuant to subdivision (2) of this subsection or 68
retained pursuant to subdivision (3) of this subsection. 69
(2) If such information allows the identity of an individual or 70
privately owned property to be ascertained and there is no probable 71
cause to believe that an offense was committed by the individual or on 72
the property, such law enforcement agency (A) shall destroy such 73
information not later than forty-eight hours after such review, or (B) 74
shall permanently modify such information so that the identity of such 75
individual or such property cannot be ascertained, and, after such 76 Raised Bill No. 870
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modification, may retain the modified information for a period of not 77
more than five years from the date of collection and, after such 78
retention, shall destroy the modified information. 79
(3) If such information allows the identity of an individual or 80
privately owned property to be ascertained and there is probable cause 81
to believe that an offense was committed by the individual or on the 82
property, such law enforcement agency may retain such information 83
for a period of not more than five years from the date of collection and, 84
after such retention, shall destroy such information, except that, if a 85
warrant is issued in accordance with section 54-33a of the general 86
statutes based in part on such information, such information may be 87
retained pursuant to the warrant. 88
(4) No information that was retained in violation of subdivision (2) 89
or (3) of this subsection shall be admitted into evidence or otherwise 90
considered by any court or agency, body or committee of this state or 91
any municipality. 92
(g) (1) Not later than January 1, 2020, the Police Officer Standards 93
and Training Council shall develop and promulgate a model policy 94
that provides guidelines on the operation of an unmanned aerial 95
vehicle by a law enforcement officer, including a weaponized 96
unmanned aerial vehicle, and the destruction, modification and 97
retention of information collected by such operation. Upon completion 98
of such model policy, the council shall report such policy, in 99
accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, 100
to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having 101
cognizance of matters relating to the judiciary and public safety. 102
(2) Each law enforcement agency that possesses for operation an 103
unmanned aerial vehicle or authorizes a law enforcement officer to 104
operate an unmanned aerial vehicle shall adopt and maintain a written 105
policy that meets or exceeds the model policy developed by the Police 106
Officer Standards and Training Council pursuant to subdivision (1) of 107
this subsection and that includes a process for categorizing the types of 108 Raised Bill No. 870
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such operations, before taking possession of such unmanned aerial 109
vehicle or not later than thirty days after a law enforcement officer 110
operates an unmanned aerial vehicle. 111
(h) Not later than January thirty-first of each year, each law 112
enforcement agency that operated an unmanned aerial vehicle in the 113
preceding calendar year shall prepare a report that includes, but need 114
not be limited to: (1) The number of times the law enforcement agency 115
operated an unmanned aerial vehicle in the preceding calendar year, 116
(2) the type of such operation as categorized in the policy adopted 117
pursuant to subdivision (2) of subsection (g) of this section, (3) whether 118
the unmanned aerial vehicle was operated pursuant to a warrant, and 119
(4) the number of times the type of information collected through the 120
operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle provided reasonable and 121
articulable suspicion that a criminal offense was being committed. The 122
law enforcement agency shall make such report available on the law 123
enforcement agency's Internet web site or the Internet web site of the 124
municipality served by the law enforcement agency. 125
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To regulate the use of unmanned aerial vehicles by law enforcement
officers and require law enforcement agencies to report on their use of
such vehicles.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]