Illinois now lets cops fly drones over events — but not with weapons or facial recognition


Cops can’t attach weapons to drones in Illinois, starting today — and they can’t use drones for facial recognition unless they’re attempting to counter a terrorist attack, preventing “imminent harm to life,” or making sure a suspect doesn’t get away.
But they can do something they couldn’t before in Illinois: fly over public events at all.
Today, the state signed the Drones as First Responders Act into law (via Hacker News). The new act modifies another one from 2014 — the Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act, which has banned law enforcement from using drones to “gather information” in the state (aside from terrorist or imminent harm situations) for the past seven years.
The new bill is designed to prevent shootings like the one at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade last year, which state senator Julie Morrison argued could have been prevented if not for that 2014 law. But it also limits drone weaponization and facial recognition over “concerns about drone surveillance and privacy,” according to a release from Sen. Morrison.
Today’s changes also let law enforcement help conduct infrastructure inspections, and help first responders with their drones.
Here’s the new restriction on weaponization:
Sec. 18 Use of weapons. A law enforcement agency operating a drone under this Act is prohibited from equipping or using on a drone any firearm, weaponized laser, kinetic impact projectile, chemical agent or irritant, or any other lethal or non-lethal weapon.
Law enforcement also still have to destroy information their drones collect within 30 days, unless it’s relevant to an investigation, but there are new exceptions if the data is “used exclusively for training purposes,” or only contains metadata. Cops are also now prohibited from selling any information their drones collect.
A number of states have banned weaponized drones in some form or another: the National Conference of State Legislators keeps this handy list of drone laws enacted across each state — and as of 2017, Maine, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin had all barred police from using armed drones, according to CBS News. Florida banned it later that year. Ohio is considering a ban as well.
Cops can’t attach weapons to drones in Illinois, starting today — and they can’t use drones for facial recognition unless they’re attempting to counter a terrorist attack, preventing “imminent harm to life,” or making sure a suspect doesn’t get away. But they can do something they couldn’t before in Illinois:…
Recent Posts
- Amazon is launching Alexa.com and new app for Alexa Plus
- Alexa Plus explained: 9 things you need to know about Amazon’s new AI-powered assistant
- All of the announcements from Amazon’s Alexa Plus event
- Max’s ad-supported tier is losing CNN and the Bleacher Report
- Amazon’s Souped-Up Alexa+ Arrives Next Month
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010