Eye On Illinois: Lawmakers sought happy medium with police drone use bill

They did well, but could’ve done better.

When the General Assembly adopted House Bill 3902, expanding police authority to use drone surveillance, it did so with “added privacy protections and disclosure requirements,” according to Capitol News Illinois. These measures earned the bill a neutral stance from the ACLU of Illinois, no small feat given the organization’s role in the 2013 Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act.

Beryl Lipton, a law enforcement technology and surveillance researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said her group has broad concerns about police drone use but acknowledged there are acceptable circumstances.

CNI reported the law, which Gov. JB Pritzker signed Friday, allows police drones only for government-hosted outdoor events that meet minimum size requirements scaled to the local population. Police can use drones when responding to 911 calls if they have to find a crime or accident victim, aid in health and safety concerns or coordinate an emergency response. Departments cannot surveil political protests or demonstrations.

In a state known for the strength of is law safeguarding biometric information like facial geometry, fingerprint scans and voice prints, it’d be hard to accept allowing the government to take excessive liberties with similar material. As such, the new law puts sensible limits on data retention, although an exception allowing preservation for future training seems potentially exploitable. That said, lawmakers empowered the Attorney General to investigate how departments use drones and can seek court orders to compel compliance with HB 3902.

The first penalty is a loss of drone authority tor six months and later violations can cost a full year.

“I hope people get to see that there are clear instructions in the law to prevent people from violating privacy,” said state Rep. Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora, the House sponsor. She linked the bill to lessons learned from the 2019 Henry Pratt Co. shooting in Aurora and last year’s Highland Park Independence Day parade. More importantly, she encouraged people to file reports if they think police aren’t complying.

Any citizen empowerment initiatives are worth celebrating, but lawmakers could’ve taken things one extra step by making access to the new drone privileges contingent on approval by a city council or village board, which is a decent proxy for the community at large, especially since that voting process would be subject to open meetings and public comment requirements.

Illinois has taken decent steps in this direction, with communities able to opt out of video gambling or recreational marijuana sales. Only eight lawmakers voted against this measure against 140 yes votes across two chambers, but the debate and advocacy group input shows an understanding of the need to strike a balance between public and private interests. Hopefully the medium they reached is happy.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on Twitter @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.