Bill

Bill > HF561


MN HF561

MN HF561
Law enforcement use of unmanned aerial vehicles to find missing persons, persons fleeing arrest, and incarcerated persons authorized.


summary

Introduced
02/13/2025
In Committee
02/13/2025
Crossed Over
Passed
Dead

Introduced Session

94th Legislature 2025-2026

Bill Summary

A bill for an act relating to public safety; authorizing law enforcement use of unmanned aerial vehicles to find missing persons, persons fleeing arrest, and incarcerated persons; amending Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 626.19, subdivision 3.

AI Summary

This bill amends Minnesota law to expand the authorized uses of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) by law enforcement agencies. The bill adds several new permitted uses to the existing list of authorized UAV deployments, including searching for missing persons (such as children or vulnerable adults), locating individuals fleeing from law enforcement during active pursuit, and finding incarcerated persons who have escaped from correctional facilities. These new provisions are added to the existing authorized uses, which already include emergency response, public event safety, terrorist threat assessment, disaster response, and evidence collection in public areas with reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The bill maintains previous restrictions on UAV use while broadening the potential scenarios in which law enforcement can legally deploy aerial surveillance technology. The changes aim to provide law enforcement with additional tools for search and rescue operations, pursuit of suspects, and locating escaped inmates, while presumably maintaining existing privacy and procedural safeguards around UAV deployment.

Committee Categories

Justice, Transportation and Infrastructure

Sponsors (1)

Last Action

Hearing (15:00:00 3/26/2025 ) (on 03/26/2025)

bill text


bill summary

Loading...

bill summary

Loading...
Loading...