Law and Order: Unmanned Air Vehicles
(asked on 8th October 2020) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of (1) the increase of the use of drones by law enforcement agencies in England and Wales in the last four years, and (2) the reasons for any variation between police forces in their reliance on drones.
Answered by
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office does not currently have any plans to update legislation on the use of drones by law enforcement agencies. The use of drones by law enforcement agencies is guided by regulations set by the Civil Aviation Authority and the use of surveillance cameras by police is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (2018) and the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice (2013).
The use of drones is an operational decision for individual police forces who deploy drones based on their operational needs. The Home Office does not gather any data on the use of drones by law enforcement agencies.