If you run a stop sign in Ross Township, Pennsylvania, you may get pulled over further down the road. Later, the officer writing your ticket might reveal that the police department was watching your driving all along—from a remote-controlled drone.
Ross Township, Pennsylvania using new surveillance to issue stop sign tickets
Brian Koelhepp, Deputy Chief of the Ross Township Police Department, explained how the system works. “We would have the officer on the drone watching it, and then we would have another officer and a marked patrol car further down the road where they could conduct the traffic stop.”
The deputy chief says, “Our goal here is to make it safer for the motoring public.” Resident Eric Happy approves. “I think that’s preventing death or more accidents, so I think it’s a good thing.”
Koelhepp added, “Through the use of the drone, we can monitor the stop sign for any potential violations from the drone safely away from the area.” Why not park a cruiser right next to the stop sign? With half as many officers, the department could prevent 100% of stop sign violations. There are rare intersections with no place for a cruiser to park. As for the rest of them? Parking in plain sight would likely lead to zero dollars in ticket revenue.
The deputy chief insists, “This isn’t an ah-gotcha-sort-of-a thing.” He claims keeping his officers out of sight is important for everyone’s safety. “Anytime there’s any interference with traffic, we’re making it less safe for everyone that’s on the roadway. And that’s the opposite thing we’re trying to do when we’re doing traffic law enforcement.”
Resident Dolly Martin disagrees. “I don’t know about the drones. It’s an invasion of everything.” Despite resident protests, the Ross Township Police Department is expanding its drone use.
Drone use expanding to crisis situation surveillance and speed monitoring
Koelhepp is quick to insist that his drones won’t be surveilling residents’ property without a valid reason. “We don’t use the drones to do surveillance. We don’t use them to look in backyards. We don’t use them to look in windows. The only time that we do that is if we are on a crisis situation, where it’s something where the tactical team or SRT team has been deployed.”
But he is keen to use drones for speed enforcement. “We’ve done some studies. We clocked over 160 cars and we had an operator using a drone and clocking the vehicle speed. At the same time, we were clocking our speed with a different device that utilizes lasers that we already use now for speed enforcement. And of the over 160 cars we clocked, we were getting a deviation of less than half a percent, so it’s less than 1 mile an hour difference from the laser device to using the drone.”
It’s not entirely up to Koelhepp whether drones can be used for speed enforcement. “We’re still exploring that, and we’re going to be in conversation with the district attorney’s office to see about using it for speed enforcement.”
Many police departments are using drones
A drone retailer recently reviewed how 11 police departments are already using these unmanned aerial vehicles. Multiple departments are using drones to map traffic accidents and crime scenes faster than old-school methods. Think 3D scans instead of traffic cones and chalk marks. Some also have them for surveillance during “emergency” situations. A few, like Ross Township and Kent PD, are inching toward real-time traffic enforcement, but none are fully issuing speed tickets by drone. That appears to be a no-go, for now.
Attorney Adam Chrzan explained why. “Police typically cannot use drone footage or videos someone sends to issue a traffic ticket because they lack the human-wheel witness required.” He added, “Even if they have camera footage, there may be legal routes to challenge it.” But with departments as enthusiastic about drone use as Ross Township, it seems a matter of time before you get a traffic ticket issued by a police officer using a drone to watch you. See how Ross Township is already using drones in the video below:
