News
Vancouver UAV users could face charges: police
Aug. 20, 2014, Vancouver - Vancouver drone operators who use the flying machines to spy on people could face criminal charges of voyeurism or harassment, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
August 20, 2014 By Kevin Griffin The Vancouver Sun
Sgt. Randy Fincham said the police force has had 13 complaints about
drone or unmanned aerial vehicles this year, 10 of them since May. The
most recent incident occurred Sunday night in the 600-block of Abbott in
the neighbourhood known as Crosstown.
Conner Galway was sitting
outside on the patio of the 36th floor at about 8:30 p.m. when he first
saw the drone for about an hour. It came back again around 10:30 p.m.
He said it came close enough for him to see something moving underneath the body of the drone that looked like a camera lens.
“I thought it was concerning,” he said.
Fincham
said in an email that the VPD would become involved if a drone or other
high-tech device was used to view or record a person within their own
home or apartment, or if the drone caused damage to property or injured
someone.
An operator of a drone could face a charge of voyeurism
by observing or recording someone who, according to the Criminal Code,
“is in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable expectation of
privacy.”
A charge of criminal harassment might occur if the
person fears for his or her safety as a result of, for example, being
following from place to place or repeatedly being watched at work or
home.
“The key to these offences,” Fincham said, “would be the elements of sexual purpose or fearing for one’s safety.”
Fincham
advised that it might be prudent to use blinds or other methods of
concealment as a security and privacy precaution, “if someone is
concerned that they may be visible to the public while they are within
the confines of their own home, regardless of one’s reasonable
expectation of privacy.”
Galway said what was particularly
upsetting was the feeling of violation he experienced when “something is
floating a few feet from you, it seems to be looking at you and you
can’t do anything about it.”
“I don’t know if it was looking into
apartments or outward. My concern primarily is not so much that people
can see into your apartment — people can do that with telephoto lenses
and binoculars.”
What he’s worried about with the recent incident is safety and the qualifications of the operator to use a drone.
“There
is a flying machine up there probably unregulated probably with an
untrained driver more than 300 feet above kids playing below,” he said.
“There is nothing stopping it from flying into my apartment.”
Galway,
who works in digital marketing, said he’s not against drones because
he’s used them in his work and knows there are strict regulations on
where they can be flown in urban areas.
