Abby Sewell and Richard Winton report:
Lancaster this week embarked on what experts say is a first-of-its-kind aerial surveillance over the city, using a small Cessna plane.
The plane, equipped with sophisticated video equipment, is set fly a loop above the city for up to 10 hours a day, beaming a live video feed of what’s going on below to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department dispatch center.
The camera will inevitably pick up scenes of mundane day-to-day life. Officials said they planned to use the video only to track reports of crimes in progress, traffic collisions and other emergency situations.
Read more on the Los Angeles Times.
The videos will be encrypted, but they will reportedly be stored for two years, leading me to wonder how this comports with the police chiefs’ newly adopted code of conduct that recommends:
- Unless required as evidence of a crime, as part of an on-going investigation, for training, or required by law, images captured by a UA should not be retained by the agency.
- Unless exempt by law, retained images should be open for public inspection.
Yes, I know these aren’t UA’s, but even so….?