Police Drones? Get a Warrant.

Get a warrant -- that’s what I would say if the police showed up at my door asking to look around. Why? Because it’s my right. It’s one of the core principles that this country was founded on: the government, including local police, can’t come into my home unless they prove to a judge that they have a real reason to invade my privacy.

If police want to search your house, they need to get a warrant. In California, if police want to fly a helicopter over your house to conduct surveillance, they have to get a warrant.

This same requirement should be true for new technologies like drones.

Plus, the right to privacy doesn’t end at my door. The California Supreme Court has made clear that we can move through our daily lives with our privacy intact and without government intrusion. We don’t give up our right to privacy when we step outside the house.

But drones pose a serious threat to that privacy, and to freedom of speech and expression, and they can be used to take racial profiling to a new level. For example, if police use drones to collect information on political protests and other First Amendment protected activities, that can have a chilling effect on free speech. If police use drones to target communities of color for ongoing surveillance, this can exacerbate existing tensions around racially-biased policing.

Because of their small size and relatively low cost, police drones can be even more invasive than traditional aerial surveillance by helicopter. As surveillance technology expands, basic legal standards like a warrant requirement have to keep up.

A bill heading to Gov. Brown’s desk, AB 1327, would require police to get a warrant before they can use drones for surveillance.

Across the state and the country, communities are having important discussions about police technology and about drones – including discussions about whether drones should be used at all.

As local communities have this conversation we also need one clear standard across the state: Get a Warrant. The state of California needs to lead, not lag, on making sure that proper legal safeguards are in place if (yes, if) police use drones.

Do you care about privacy? Sign up here to hold state and local leaders accountable.

Natasha Minsker is the Associate Director at the ACLU of Northern California.

READ MORE: Law professors' memo to Gov. Brown regarding AB 1327.