A1164

An Act concerning warrant requirements for conducting aerial surveillance and supplementing Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. a. For the purposes of this act,

“Unmanned aerial system” means an aerial vehicle that does not carry a human operator, and which is capable of flying autonomously or being piloted remotely and is capable of conducting surveillance as defined by this section; and

“Surveillance” means the act of monitoring, observing, photographing, listening to, or making a recording of a person or group of persons or their movements, activities and communications.

b. No law enforcement agency or officer shall utilize an unmanned aerial system unless that law enforcement agency or officer, or the Attorney General or county prosecutor acting on behalf of the law enforcement agency or officer, files an application with a judge and is issued a warrant authorizing the use of an unmanned aerial system.

c. Each application for a warrant authorizing the use of an unmanned aerial system shall be made in writing upon oath or affirmation and shall state:

(1) the identity of the particular person or group of persons, if known, who are the subject of the aerial surveillance operation;

(2) a statement of facts establishing the purpose of the aerial surveillance activities and the character of the information that the law enforcement agency, or law enforcement officer intends to obtain from conducting an aerial surveillance operation;

(3) a detailed description of the distance of the radius of the geographic location of proposed surveillance operation measured in miles, which shall not be larger than is reasonably necessary to conduct a surveillance operation;

(4) a statement of the period of time during which the aerial surveillance operation is to be conducted; and

(5) a particular statement of facts showing that other normal investigative procedures with respect to the offense have been tried and have failed or reasonably appear to be unlikely to succeed if tried or to be too dangerous to employ.

d. This section shall not restrict or impair the ability of any law enforcement agency or officer to utilize an unmanned aerial system without obtaining a warrant if there is probable cause to believe that an emergency involving danger of imminent death or imminent serious bodily injury to any person requires the use of an unmanned aerial system without delay.

e. When a law enforcement agency or officer utilizes an unmanned aerial system and records a verbal or video communication that is unrelated to the investigation for which a warrant has been issued, the contents of the verbal or video communication, and any evidence derived from that communication, shall be discarded and shall not be used as evidence in court for a crime unrelated to the investigation.

f. Except in instances where a law enforcement agency or officer has probable cause to believe that an emergency involving danger of imminent death or imminent serious bodily injury requires the use of an unmanned aerial system as provided under subsection d. of this section, any evidence derived from the use of a unmanned aerial system without a warrant in violation of this section shall be discarded and shall not be used as evidence in court.

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill requires law enforcement entities to obtain a warrant prior to using unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, in this State. In February, the President of the United States signed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. This act mandates that the Federal Aviation Administration administer a program that integrates the use of drones into the national airspace system.

This bill requires that a law enforcement agency or officer conducting a surveillance operation obtain a warrant when using a drone as part of an investigation. The application for a warrant is to provide the following: a description of the identity of the persons, if known, who are the subject of the aerial surveillance operation; a statement of facts establishing the purpose of the aerial surveillance activities and the information sought; a detailed description of the distance of proposed surveillance operation measured in miles; a statement of the period of time during which the aerial surveillance operation is to be conducted; and a statement of facts showing that other normal investigative procedures have been tried and have failed, are unlikely to succeed, or are too dangerous to employ.

The bill clarifies that a warrant is not required if there is probable cause to believe that an emergency involving danger of imminent death or imminent serious bodily injury to any person requires the use of an unmanned aerial system without delay.

The bill also requires that any verbal or video communication that is unrelated to the investigation for which a warrant is sought is to be discarded and not be used as evidence for a separate crime unrelated to the investigation. The bill clarifies that except in emergency situations, if information is obtained without a warrant in violation of the requirements set forth under the bill, any evidence collected is to be discarded.