Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SB1587
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Full Text of SB1587  98th General Assembly

SB1587eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  
  
  

 


 
SB1587 EngrossedLRB098 08321 RLC 38426 b

1    AN ACT concerning criminal law.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act.
 
6    Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
7    "Authority" means the Illinois Criminal Justice
8Information Authority.
9    "Drone" means any aerial vehicle that does not carry a
10human operator.
11    "Information" means any evidence, images, sounds, data, or
12other information gathered by a drone.
13    "Law enforcement agency" means any agency of this State or
14a political subdivision of this State which is vested by law
15with the duty to maintain public order and to enforce criminal
16laws.
 
17    Section 10. Prohibited use of drones. Except as provided
18in Section 15, a law enforcement agency may not use a drone to
19gather information.
 
20    Section 15. Exceptions. This Act does not prohibit the use
21of a drone by a law enforcement agency:

 

 

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1    (1) To counter a high risk of a terrorist attack by a
2specific individual or organization if the United States
3Secretary of Homeland Security determines that credible
4intelligence indicates that there is that risk.
5    (2) If a law enforcement agency first obtains a search
6warrant based on probable cause issued under Section 108-3 of
7the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. The warrant must be
8limited to a period of 45 days, renewable by the judge upon a
9showing of good cause for subsequent periods of 45 days.
10    (3) If a law enforcement agency possesses reasonable
11suspicion that, under particular circumstances, swift action
12is needed to prevent imminent harm to life or serious damage to
13property, or to forestall the imminent escape of a suspect or
14the destruction of evidence. The use of a drone under this
15paragraph (3) is limited to a period of 48 hours. Within 24
16hours of the initiation of the use of a drone under this
17paragraph (3), the chief executive officer of the law
18enforcement agency must report in writing the use of a drone to
19the local State's Attorney.
20    (4) If a law enforcement agency is attempting to locate a
21missing person, and is not also undertaking a criminal
22investigation.
23    (5) If a law enforcement agency is using a drone solely for
24crime scene and traffic crash scene photography. Crime scene
25and traffic crash photography must be conducted in a
26geographically confined and time-limited manner to document

 

 

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1specific occurrences. The use of a drone under this paragraph
2(5) on private property requires either a search warrant based
3on probable cause under Section 108-3 of the Code of Criminal
4Procedure of 1963 or lawful consent to search. The use of a
5drone under this paragraph (5) on lands, highways, roadways, or
6areas belonging to this State or political subdivisions of this
7State does not require a search warrant or consent to search.
8Any law enforcement agency operating a drone under this
9paragraph (5) shall make every reasonable attempt to only
10photograph the crime scene or traffic crash scene and avoid
11other areas.
 
12    Section 20. Information retention. If a law enforcement
13agency uses a drone under Section 15 of this Act, the agency
14within 30 days shall destroy all information gathered by the
15drone, except that a supervisor at that agency may retain
16particular information if:
17    (1) there is reasonable suspicion that the information
18contains evidence of criminal activity, or
19    (2) the information is relevant to an ongoing investigation
20or pending criminal trial.
 
21    Section 25. Information disclosure. If a law enforcement
22agency uses a drone under Section 15 of this Act, the agency
23shall not disclose any information gathered by the drone,
24except that a supervisor of that agency may disclose particular

 

 

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1information to another government agency, if (1) there is
2reasonable suspicion that the information contains evidence of
3criminal activity, or (2) the information is relevant to an
4ongoing investigation or pending criminal trial.
 
5    Section 30. Admissibility. Compliance with this Act is a
6prerequisite to the admissibility in evidence of any
7information collected by a law enforcement agency by means of a
8drone, but nothing in this Act shall be deemed to prevent a
9court from independently reviewing the admissibility of the
10evidence for compliance with the Fourth Amendment to the U.S.
11Constitution or with Article I, Section 6 of the Illinois
12Constitution.
 
13    Section 35. Reporting.
14    (a) If a law enforcement agency owns one or more drones,
15then subsequent to the effective date of this Act, it shall
16report in writing annually by April 1 to the Authority the
17number of drones that it owns.
18    (b) On July 1 of each year, the Authority shall publish on
19its publicly available website a concise report that lists
20every law enforcement agency that owns a drone, and for each of
21those agencies, the number of drones that it owns.