A federal judge on Friday cleared a planned pilot program by the Baltimore Police Department to consistently surveil the city for six months using cameras attached to airplanes.
U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett in Baltimore ruled against a grassroots think tank and area activists who asked him to keep the program from taking off, arguing that it violates their First and Fourth Amendment rights.
The department now expects the first flight to take place next week. “The United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit have long upheld the use of far more intrusive warrantless surveillance techniques than the (Aerial Investigation Research) program,” Bennett wrote in a 34-page opinion denying the