Police of California

Main article: California (state of the USA)

2020: Use of drones for control of observance of a quarantine

In the middle of April, 2020 it became known that the police of the city of Chula-Vista (California, the USA) began to use drones for  observation of citizens in the period of a pandemic of a koronavirusny infection of COVID-19 after the governor of the state Gavin Newsom  asked inhabitants to stay at home.

The police department purchased two drones worth $11 thousand everyone and is going to equip them with loudspeakers and cameras with  night vision. 

In California started drones with night vision and loudspeakers to catch violators of a quarantine

Usually we do not equip drones with loudspeakers, but … if we need to announce something in the large territory if we need  to disperse crowd, police officers should not be engaged in it manually any more — said in department.

Using new devices police officers are going including to control movements of the homeless which in the state there are about 60 thousand  people. All of them are subject to the increased risk of infection of COVID-19. In turn, police officers — for the purpose of security — will be able  to watch them and to communicate, using drones and not coming very close to them. 

Earlier the police of Chula-Visty already purchased two drones of the Chinese DJI brand for use in the working purposes. Devices fly up from a roof  of the building in which the department of police is located. They are used for studying of suspicious packets, assessment of situations during  the fires and shooting of car accidents.

Devices also send on calls to places of crimes or for observation of suspicious actions of people — it allows to begin studying of a situation still before into place there arrives the police car.

The police of Chula-Visty began to test drones since 2018. Today they take off on "tasks" about 10-15 times in a day. The head  of department considers that Federal management of aircraft of the USA should lift a number of limits for flights of pilotless devices  that it was possible to start the bigger number of such assistants in air. And the situation with a coronavirus will promote it, he considers.^[1]

2019: Police of California prohibited face recognition in breast cameras

In October, 2019 it became known that police of California prohibited face recognition in breast cameras. It is the first American state in which this prohibition is entered.

The bill approved by the senate of California and drafted by the member of Assembly of the state Phil Ting provides the three-year moratorium on use of face recognition algorithms by police. And law enforcement agency it is forbidden to use such system in real time, for studying of the recorded video.

Police of California prohibited face recognition in breast cameras

According to the adopted bill police it is forbidden to set, activate or use any biometric observation system in connection with the camera of the officer or data collected by the officer's camera. The initiative does not concern television cameras which have functions of detection of persons, focusings on persons and a possibility of their editing.

According to Phil Ting, the sensing technology of persons needs completion therefore it can be used only carefully.

We as legislators can laugh, but that who tries to get a job or housing and faced false suspicions [because of incorrectly worked face recognition] — to them not before laughter — he noted.

The American union of protection of civil liberties (ACLU), non-profit non-governmental organization of the USA, reported that they during system testing face recognition of 26 Californian legislators were taken for criminals.

It is more than a half of those who were mistakenly recognized, were black. Results of an experiment correspond to the similar test of a system which is carried out in 2018 when 28 Congressmen of the USA, the majority of which too black, were mistakenly identified as criminals.

Irrespective of recognition accuracy, such cameras in large quantities violate the civil rights of Californians, the lawyer of ACLU Matt Keygl considers.^[2]

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