Public Act 098-0569
 
SB1587 EnrolledLRB098 08321 RLC 38426 b

    AN ACT concerning criminal law.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act.
 
    Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
    "Authority" means the Illinois Criminal Justice
Information Authority.
    "Drone" means any aerial vehicle that does not carry a
human operator.
    "Information" means any evidence, images, sounds, data, or
other information gathered by a drone.
    "Law enforcement agency" means any agency of this State or
a political subdivision of this State which is vested by law
with the duty to maintain public order and to enforce criminal
laws.
 
    Section 10. Prohibited use of drones. Except as provided
in Section 15, a law enforcement agency may not use a drone to
gather information.
 
    Section 15. Exceptions. This Act does not prohibit the use
of a drone by a law enforcement agency:
    (1) To counter a high risk of a terrorist attack by a
specific individual or organization if the United States
Secretary of Homeland Security determines that credible
intelligence indicates that there is that risk.
    (2) If a law enforcement agency first obtains a search
warrant based on probable cause issued under Section 108-3 of
the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. The warrant must be
limited to a period of 45 days, renewable by the judge upon a
showing of good cause for subsequent periods of 45 days.
    (3) If a law enforcement agency possesses reasonable
suspicion that, under particular circumstances, swift action
is needed to prevent imminent harm to life, or to forestall the
imminent escape of a suspect or the destruction of evidence.
The use of a drone under this paragraph (3) is limited to a
period of 48 hours. Within 24 hours of the initiation of the
use of a drone under this paragraph (3), the chief executive
officer of the law enforcement agency must report in writing
the use of a drone to the local State's Attorney.
    (4) If a law enforcement agency is attempting to locate a
missing person, and is not also undertaking a criminal
investigation.
    (5) If a law enforcement agency is using a drone solely for
crime scene and traffic crash scene photography. Crime scene
and traffic crash photography must be conducted in a
geographically confined and time-limited manner to document
specific occurrences. The use of a drone under this paragraph
(5) on private property requires either a search warrant based
on probable cause under Section 108-3 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure of 1963 or lawful consent to search. The use of a
drone under this paragraph (5) on lands, highways, roadways, or
areas belonging to this State or political subdivisions of this
State does not require a search warrant or consent to search.
Any law enforcement agency operating a drone under this
paragraph (5) shall make every reasonable attempt to only
photograph the crime scene or traffic crash scene and avoid
other areas.
 
    Section 20. Information retention. If a law enforcement
agency uses a drone under Section 15 of this Act, the agency
within 30 days shall destroy all information gathered by the
drone, except that a supervisor at that agency may retain
particular information if:
    (1) there is reasonable suspicion that the information
contains evidence of criminal activity, or
    (2) the information is relevant to an ongoing investigation
or pending criminal trial.
 
    Section 25. Information disclosure. If a law enforcement
agency uses a drone under Section 15 of this Act, the agency
shall not disclose any information gathered by the drone,
except that a supervisor of that agency may disclose particular
information to another government agency, if (1) there is
reasonable suspicion that the information contains evidence of
criminal activity, or (2) the information is relevant to an
ongoing investigation or pending criminal trial.
 
    Section 30. Admissibility. If the court finds by a
preponderance of the evidence that a law enforcement agency
used a drone to gather information in violation of the
information gathering limits in Sections 10 and 15 of this Act,
then the information shall be presumed to be inadmissible in
any judicial or administrative proceeding. The State may
overcome this presumption by proving the applicability of a
judicially recognized exception to the exclusionary rule of the
Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution or Article I, Section
6 of the Illinois Constitution to the information. Nothing in
this Act shall be deemed to prevent a court from independently
reviewing the admissibility of the information for compliance
with the aforementioned provisions of the U.S. and Illinois
Constitutions.
 
    Section 35. Reporting.
    (a) If a law enforcement agency owns one or more drones,
then subsequent to the effective date of this Act, it shall
report in writing annually by April 1 to the Authority the
number of drones that it owns.
    (b) On July 1 of each year, the Authority shall publish on
its publicly available website a concise report that lists
every law enforcement agency that owns a drone, and for each of
those agencies, the number of drones that it owns.