Just a hypothetical question

Something I’ve been wondering and not seen any official comment on the subject.

If you were out flying your drone ( intentionally within the code) and somebody took exception to itAnd reported to the police !,
could or does anyone have the right to see or ask to see your flight logs ? Would it be required for you to prove your flight ?

If it was discovered that you (from the logs) briefly ‘say’ went above 400’ or a bit closer to a building than you should have been, Could This lead to prosecution !?
Any thoughts on this.

The main question I suppose I’m querying is are you obliged to show your flight log.

Many non-DJI drones don’t have logs - nor does my P2.

If there were a legal requirement to only fly drones that logged flights, then this would be a different scenario.

As I recall, this was rather fundamental to the TV prog about drones being used to fly drugs into a prison and, even in that scenario, there wasn’t (at that time) the legislation in place for the drone to be confiscated and the logs examined.
(I think there may have been some changes to the laws since in cases where drones have been used for criminal reasons.)

Not without a court order I guess?

Police can seize anything they want for investigation if they have reasonable grounds it was used to commit a crime.

Absolutely no court order required then :roll_eyes:

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The TV prog I mentioned … they had problems with a drone.

Just found my answer in a CAA publication, here’s the extract from it…
from earlier this year…

The new drone legislation which was announced yesterday aims to go even further. In a nutshell, it includes:

  • Police to be given additional powers to land, seize and search drones.

I think that just about sums it up but thanks for response guys.:slightly_smiling_face:

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But your question included …

… and in those circumstances I’m pretty sure they can.

They would need far more evidence/belief of incorrect usage to be able to implement those new powers.

You also asked …

I really very much doubt it. They already have far more significant and important things to worry about than their limited funds allow them to pursue.

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More So aimed at criminal use I would understand.

I would definitely agree on they have better things to do, ( I would like to think so anyway)

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It’s more likely if they suspect you are using the drone for criminal activity it would be seized.

Same if you were blatantly breaking the law like flying in an FRZ or over a crowd.

They have to reasonably suspect you committed a crime and a hunch or what if wont cut it.

It’s the same for phones and computers. They can be seized without court order to aid in investigation of a suspected crime.

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All the info on the ‘proposed’ new police powers are here, though no date as they have to put through Parliament - which will be dependant of parliamentary time - which may be pretty busy in the near future!

:smiley: yeh read that document just a few minutes ago, has it all there!