Demings to Move Forward with Drone Program

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office will move ahead with its unmanned drone program now that Gov. Rick Scott has signed off a new drone bill.

On Thursday Scott signed a measure restricting how law enforcement could use unmanned drones for surveillance.  In signing the bill, SB 92, Scott said, “[It] maintains a balance between the need for law enforcement to protect our citizens agains credible threats and imminent danger while ensuring that the privacy of Florida families is protected.”  The bill cleared the Senate unanimously.

The new law requires law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant before the drones can be used.  However, the legislation makes exceptions in cases involving “imminent danger to life or serious damage to property” and when there is “credible intelligence” from the federal Department of Homeland Security that there is a “high risk of a terrorist attack.”

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which has two drones, said in a statement Thursday that, “the Sheriff’s Office will continue to work with the Orange County Board of County Commissioners and the Federal Aviation Administration to reactivate our application for the Certificate of Authorization.”

In January earlier this year, OCSO showed off two Unmanned Aerial Surveillance (UAS) devices (drones) which Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said were intended to keep Orange County residents and deputies safer.   To date, the drones have only been used in training exercises.

 The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is only one of three law enforcement agencies in the state which has unmanned drones; the others are Miami-Dade Police Department and Polk County Sheriff’s Office.