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Socom, Polk County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office Among Those with Drone Permits

As one of 35 law enforcement agencies around the country who currently have a permit, the rural county is on the cutting edge of technology.

A Davenport, Fla., man had barricaded himself in his house early last year and set it on fire. When Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived, they didn’t rush in to a potentially dangerous situation, but they didn’t wait to see what was happening inside either.

They sent in a small “throw” robot and a drone with a camera.

“It was decided to attempt to clear the second floor of the multi-story single family residence,” said PCSO spokeswoman Carrie Horstman. “The aircraft was used to fly in the master bedroom and along with a throw robot was able to locate the deceased subject on the floor. This was all done before anyone had to step inside the residence.”

Polk County may be largely rural, but it is on the cutting edge of technology.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it is one of 35 law enforcement agencies around the country who currently have a permit — called a Certificate of Authorization — that it issues to fly drones in U.S. skies. The FAA regulates which government agencies can fly drones and where, how and when they can be flown. Hobby or recreational flying, however, doesn’t require FAA approval, but operators must follow safety guidelines, which include avoiding manned aircraft.

Since 2008, nearly 100 law enforcement agencies obtained permission to fly drones, said FAA spokesman Les Dorr.

The drone yen reaches far beyond law enforcement. More than 200 government agencies and universities have obtained certificates to fly drones, according to a list obtained by Motherboard, an online magazine that filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FAA. The list expands on a similar one published by the FAA and most recently updated in June.

U.S. Special Operations Command (Socom), headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, has about 30 certificates, according to the Motherboard list.

Socom headquarters does not possess its own drones, said spokesman Ken McGraw, who Tuesday evening did not have information about why the command sought the certificates.

While there is a great deal of interest in remotely piloted vehicles by many aside from government agencies, including private citizens, real estate agents and news organizations who see value in putting a camera in a relatively inexpensive aircraft, organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union see a lot of potential for misuse.

The surveillance capabilities of drones is a major concern, said Mike Pheneger, chairman of the Tampa chapter of the ACLU.

“The police have misused capabilities before,” he said, adding that there should be limits on the use and storage of images obtained by drones.

Pheneger however is neither patently anti-drone nor anti-surveillance.

A retired Army colonel, he was the first director of intelligence for Socom and set up the Army’s first drone program, used to gain information about Salvadoran rebels during the Reagan administration.

He just wants to make sure that the eyes in the sky are abiding by the Constitution.

“There ought to be rules established,” he said.

There are some that do exist in Florida. Last year, Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation limiting drone usage to the prevention of imminent danger to life — a kidnapping or a missing child — or serious damage to property. The law also makes police obtain search warrants before using drones to collect evidence. An exception would be a “credible threat” of terrorist attack.

Since purchasing a quadcopter four years ago for $299, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office has used it eight times, said Horstman, always in SWAT situations.

“We use it to help clear a building or residence before any SWAT members enter the structure,” she said. “We use it in concert with our ground robots.”

This is Polk’s second go-round with drones. In 2009, it had a certificate to fly a fixed-wing drone, which deputies found impractical, Horstman said.

At the moment, the FAA allows federal, state or local government entities and universities to apply for the certificates.

“Each COA is unique to a particular chunk of airspace and each has flight limitations unique to the operation,” he said. “For example, if the Polk County sheriff wanted to use a (drone) somewhere other than what was specified in their COA application and grant, they would have to apply for a different COA.”

Under pressure to open the aperture on who can fly, the FAA recently allowed six film production companies to use drones.

Aside from Polk, at least one more Florida law enforcement agency, the Daytona Beach Police Department, has a certificate, according the list obtained by Motherboard. Miami-Dade police say they obtained a certificate in 2011 and renewed it the following December for two years, but their drones never saw flight time. That certificate, however, is not on the Motherboard list, which could not be confirmed by the FAA.

The magazine’s list contains 935 drone waiver applications completed between Nov. 1, 2012 and June 19, 2014. Most of those on the list have been approved, but there are also some that are pending, some that are expired and some that have been cancelled.

The University of Florida has more than a dozen drone certificates, according to the list. University officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Customs and Border Patrol also flies drones in Florida, out of its Cocoa Beach facility.

“CBP has established clear protocols regarding aerial surveillance to ensure that privacy and civil rights are protected while CBP is still able to accomplish its mission,” spokesman Carlos Lazo said in an email to the Tribune last week. “During Fiscal Year 2013, CBP’s Office of Air and Marine logged 73,576 flight hours in the air and 111,910 underway hours on the water.”

For the past four years, CBP has been flying the civilian version of Predator drones, called the Guardian, over the Caribbean and the Bahamas to look for smugglers.

CBP has also sought to fly over the Gulf of Mexico, said a pilot trainer with agency two years ago when the Tribune made the first-ever visit by the media to its facility.

”We know that drugs are getting into the country,” said Brandon Tucker, a pilot trainer and air interdiction agent for CBP, an agency in the Department of Homeland Security charged with stopping drug- and people-smuggling into the country. “We are going to fly out over the Gulf, west of the Tampa area, to establish intelligence baselines to see what we find. There’s not a lot of intel out there.”

©2014 the Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Fla.)