Re: Drone sent over property as part of municipal code enforcement; no exclusionary rule violation

On Tue, 7 May 2024 01:30:23 -0000 (UTC)
"Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

shawn <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

Tue, 7 May 2024 00:51:51 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman
<ahk@chinet.com>: 

The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote: 

Mon, 6 May 2024 15:59:43 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman
<ahk@chinet.com>: 

 

In oral argument, Lehto said that one of the judges asked the
Institute for Justice attorney if they don't extend the
exclusionary rule that municipalities will buy drones and
commence overflights. The IJ attorney said of course they will
given how cheap drones have become. 

 

How is viewing someone's home from the street an invasion of a
right to privacy? 

 

Did you read my synopsis? The privacy violation was the drone
OVERFLIGHT. There were three of them. 

 

Yep, no one is questioning the ability for anyone to view someone's
property from the street without violating the law. I agree that if
the municipality couldn't see anything from the street then they
wouldn't have any ability to complain, but that doesn't give them the
right to over fly the property in question. 

 
The landowner lost. The exclusionary rule was not extended to code
enforcement cases. The municipality now has the power to overfly to
enforce municipal ordinances.
 

Though here is the issue. It likely was possibly for them to fly
their drone directly over the street (keeping it on public property)
and still see into the property in question. That doesn't appear to
be what was done, but it does seem like it could have been done and
still given them the evidence they wanted/needed. 

 
No. It was a rural parcel. They owned a lot of land. Nothing could be
seen from the street, which means there couldn't have possibly been a
nuisance to complain about.

Maybe the core issue here is not whether the city can fly a drone but
whether it can travel over your property to get the still pictures or
video that the drone captures. How high does your property go? Do you
control the airspace over your property? If you do, the government's
drone might be seen as trespassing.

I remember hearing hypothetical questions in school about what rights
you have to the space above your property - and how deep your rights go
to what's in the earth below you - but I honestly don't recall what the
courts have decided in either regard. I expect each jurisdiction has
set different limits. It would be interesting to know what the rules
are in Evanston. The property owner's lawyer might be
presumed to have looked into that and found that it didn't help his
client but maybe the lawyer didn't even think about it.

--
Rhino