Surveillance concerns rise over Bryan County’s new use of drones during traffic stops

Just because you can’t see them when you pull onto the roadway, doesn’t mean you’re safe. Drones operated by Bryan County Sheriff’s Office are watching and looking for traffic violations.

Sheriff deputies say their fleet of drones are primarily utilized to catch people driving without seatbelts or using an electronic device while at the wheel.

But the new tool has sparked concern about how surveillance data collected passively by local law enforcement could violate the right to privacy or potentially be used for harm.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a… drone?

While the office has been using drones for two and a half years, it’s only been implementing them into its traffic team since April. The expansion, according to Bryan County Sheriff Department spokeswoman Candace Hunnicut, is the office’s way of utilizing its two drones.

The devices — DJI Matrice 30Ts — usually have five operators, one of whom, Corporal Sheriff Campbell Grieniger, is deployed once a month for traffic duty, she said. Grieniger said he’s usually deployed to the south end of the county, with the second operator on the north end.

A DJI Matrice 30T drone sells for anywhere between $20,000 and $25,000, Hunnicut said.

Legal standing (or flying)

Bryan County Sheriff Mark Crowe said in an interview with WJCL that the use of drones was both legal and backed by local prosecutors, specifically the State Court Solicitor General, Don Montgomery.

Montgomery told The Current that Crowe specifically asked whether it was legal for the office to observe from a drone for the purposes of identifying seatbelt tickets and use of devices while driving.

Montgomery said that, in his opinion, if it was on a public roadway, it was legal. “It would be no different than using an airplane or a helicopter to do traffic control,” he added.

For now, Bryan County is using drones to identify those two traffic violations, according to Hunnicut.

Traffic stops using the drones are completed by a two-person team: an operator, like Grieniger, who watches for traffic violations like distracted driving or failure to wear a seatbelt; and a second patrol officer who acts on information gleaned by the operator, conducts the traffic stops and issues a ticket.

“[The drone] helps us see, and then our deputies go and they stop the cars and they talk to the drivers,” Hunnicut said. “So [drivers are] still getting that face to face contact, and the deputies are still having to do the work.”

The drones are equipped with a spotlight, as well as a speaker to play a number of automatically programmed sounds and messages. Those include curfew warnings, a siren and the “Cops” reality TV series theme song.

Other media coverage of the drone patrols have resulted in disinformation, such as the operators are reading drivers’ text messages, said Hunnicut. That fact is not true, she said.

Department policy mandates that photos and images taken of drivers allegedly committing traffic violations are kept only as long as needed for court dates or any other related actions related to a case. The department deletes that data after cases are closed, said Hunnicut.

Video recordings from devices on or inside law enforcement vehicles are stored for 180 days from the date of recording, with exception to videos that are “part of a criminal investigation, shows a vehicular accident, shows the detainment or arrest of an individual, or shows a law enforcement officer’s use of force,” which are retained for 30 months from the date of recording, according to the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office drone standard operating procedure.

Other uses for the Bryan County Sheriff’s drones include aid during search and rescue operations, finding missing persons, affecting warrant service and documenting natural disasters.

Both Hunnicut and Grieniger emphasized that the purpose of using the drones is not to catch drivers or make more money for the department, but to enforce the laws and keep roadways safe.

“The biggest thing I want to get across with this is like, I’m not doing it to invade your privacy. I’m doing it to … reduce crashes and safety reasons,” Grieniger said. “I’m not lingering on cars, I’m seeing if there’s a violation and moving on. You’re not being recorded. If you’re not committing a violation, we’re on to the next one.”

Across the nation, drone use by law enforcement agencies is on the rise.

For example, a report from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension showed that 76 agencies reported using a drone in 2021, with a majority of those agencies being sheriff’s departments.

The agencies reported 2,265 instances of drone usage without a warrant, amounting to a total of $380,740 spent on drone programs.

The most common reason for drone use was reported as officer training or public relations, only slightly more than double the second most common reason — during or in the aftermath of an emergency situation that involves the risk of death or bodily harm to a person.

Laws in Minnesota regarding officer usage of drones are very similar to guidelines in Bryan County, including requiring aircraft registration and federal pilot licensing for all piloting officers.

Back in Bryan County, the state solicitor general said he believes the use of drones should be halted on private roads, instead of public highways.

He said he was satisfied after his conversations with Sheriff Crowe that the Bryan County deputies would be following his legal guidance.

“I don’t think he was trying to, like, use it for anything other than the two public safety things, seat belts and hands free license,” he said, referring to Crowe.  “I don’t think, at least [in] my conversation with him, I don’t think he was looking to try to use it for anything else.”