Some Maryland Lawmakers Want to Regulate Police Use of Drones

Some Maryland legislators worry that current state law doesn’t offer clear guidance on how or when law enforcement can use drones as the first or only responders to emergency calls.

The police are operating in a legal gray area, said Del. Robin Grammer Jr. (R-Baltimore County), a member of Maryland’s House Judiciary Committee, told Maryland Matters .

This month the General Assembly began weighing whether to set state-level rules for more expansive drone programs. House lawmakers summoned police and a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union to Annapolis last Wednesday to review Montgomery County’s program.

In that meeting, Montgomery County Police Commander Jason Cokinos says his department has taken a narrow approach to aerial surveillance.

Police only dispatch the drones in response to emergency calls involving “safety issues,” Cokinos said, and they do not send drones to calls without a suspect present. Those can range from assaults in progress to children playing hockey on potentially thin ice, according to the department’s flight records.

Cokinos said that the drone’s live feeds have helped officers avoid at least one confrontation with an armed suspect. He argued that the use of the drone helped to de-escalate a response that “very well could have resulted in an officer-involved shooting.”