Why Does Polk County Florida Need a Drone?

According to a recently released reportby the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), there is a list of around 60 public agencies in the US that have received FAA approval to fly domestic drones and that group included about two dozen local police agencies. One of those local police agencies is the Polk County Sheriff's Office. Surely you recall Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County, Florida?

He is the one that dragged that guy from Colorado to his jail and booked him on obscenity charges over a book: Beyond Book Burning: Sheriff Judd of Polk County Florida. First Amendment attorney Marc Randazza offered powerful insight on the arrest and in the end, Greaves (the author) made a guilty plea that included probation, and returned home to Colorado: First Amendment Alert! Author Arrested for Writing a Book.

In these here parts, Sheriff Grady Judd is best known for his sex-based agenda, which sometimes includes setting traps on Craigslist for alleged pedophiles and at other times is the classic sting operation aimed at anyone calling an escort through various online classifieds and directories or luring naïve escorts out to rural Polk County. They always use a nice house in a gated community.

Anyway, this is what Polk County, Florida is best known for. Anyone that lives anywhere near Polk County knows that they have real crime problems out there and shouldn't have a spare minute to create-a-case where none existed to begin with. Read through the list included in Randazza's post to learn more about the agenda in Polk County. Of course there are many more cases that are not listed too.

So why does Polk County Sheriff's Office need a drone and how will they really use it?

First, read the article posted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation on the advanced surveillance capabilities of drones: Are Drones Watching You?

Now that you understand the potential for abuse with an overzealous law enforcement agency, consider the question. Only a couple of dozen local law enforcement agencies in the entire country have applied for and received a Domestic Drone Authorization and Sheriff anti-sex is one of them. See the Map of Domestic Drone Authorizations to find out if your area is included.

The EFF wants you to call your local police department and ask the questions listed and submit the answers. They are working on collecting the data to have it all in one place. This would make legal and political actions much easier. Here is the list of questions: Drone questions for police departments

Okay, I will say it... The great majority of police departments in the US will avoid offering any information, especially in relation to any sort of surveillance, so you may not receive your answers easily. You may need to send a request in a letter, but try the email approach first. Make sure to submit the results to the EFF via the questionnaire form.

Is there still a Fourth Amendment? Law enforcement and prosecutors are always coming-up with new ways to get around it. What a scary place we live in.