A federal appeals court has rejected a request from civil rights groups that it expedite its consideration of their constitutional challenge to the Baltimore Police Department’s use of aerial surveillance to fight crime in the city. Without comment, the 4th ...

Tagged with: aerial surveillance first amendment fourth amendment freedom of association unreasonable search

Saying time is of the essence when the Constitution is at stake, civil rights groups are urging a federal appeals court to expedite consideration of whether the Baltimore Police Department’s use of aerial surveillance to fight crime in the city ...

Tagged with: ACLU aerial surveillance Baltimore Police Department crime fighting first amendment fourth amendment

A federal judge on Friday gave the Baltimore Police Department an all-clear to begin using aerial surveillance to fight crime in the city, rejecting arguments that the overflights would violate Baltimoreans’ constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and their right to ...

Tagged with: aerial surveillance fourth amendment reasonable expectation of privacy violent crime

The Baltimore Police Department this week defended the constitutionality of its planned use of aerial surveillance of the city, citing BPD’s compelling need to fight violent crime and saying Baltimoreans have no “reasonable expectation of privacy” when walking in public. ...

Tagged with: ACLU aerial surveillance first amendment fourth amendment police reasonable expectation of privacy

It has been reported that Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison agreed to support surveillance flights over Baltimore only to allow the resulting data to inform us whether the program will work or not. He added that his support is “not ...

Tagged with: aerial surveillance editorial advisory board spy plane

A civil rights group is seeking a federal court order to block the Baltimore Police Department’s planned aerial surveillance of the city, saying the crime-fighting tactic would violate Baltimoreans’ constitutional right to free association and protection against unreasonable searches. The ...

Tagged with: aerial surveillance first amendment fourth amendment

We have written before about the “spy plane” that has flown over Baltimore. In an editorial published two years ago, we noted several recommendations about the aerial surveillance program from the Police Foundation, a national group. Among them were: Before ...

Tagged with: aerial surveillance editorial advisory board Persistent Surveillance Systems Ross McNutt spy plane

The aerial surveillance spy plane flying over Baltimore was much in the news in 2016. Earlier this summer, a spy plane program was considered – for a time – by the mayor and police force of Miami-Dade, Florida. But the ...

Tagged with: aerial surveillance editorial advisory board The Daily Record