Department of Justice July 5, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NIJ is soliciting information on the operational use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in support of law enforcement. The focus of the study is on the use of UAS for crash scene reconstruction; however, information on alternative uses of UAS in law enforcement is also requested. The National Criminal Justice Research, Test and Evaluation Center (NIJ RT&E Center) is performing an operational evaluation of UAS for Crash Scene Reconstruction. The objective of this evaluation is to evaluate the utility of a UAS to support crash scene reconstruction in an operational law-enforcement setting. In particular, the study will determine whether a UAS could be used to improve crash scene reconstruction in terms of quality, safety, timeliness, or other metrics. Based upon previous investigations, the Center has identified a number of agencies that have operational UAS capabilities configured to support law enforcement. The Center is now seeking to partner with those or other interested agencies in order to complete the operational evaluation. Information Sought: The Center is seeking law enforcement agencies with which to partner in an operational evaluation of UAS technology for Crash Scene Reconstruction. This evaluation will, at the discretion of the partnering agency, occur during normal operations or during scheduled exercises. Agencies or vendors who respond to this request for information are invited to provide general comments with regard to the evaluation for NIJ RT&E Center to consider, including which uses of the system and which performance metrics are appropriate for the evaluation. It should be noted that the purpose of the evaluation is to assess the utility of UAS technology; this includes assessment of both current and possible future practices. The Center is not evaluating the participating law enforcement agencies, just the application of using UAS for Crash Scene Reconstruction. Information will be obtained through responses to the information requested below as a baseline for initial information gathering from responding law enforcement agencies. Follow up discussions will be conducted in some cases. The request for information is intended to reach a consistent understanding of the needs for UAS for Crash Scene Reconstruction and the ways each agency uses the technology. Information sought includes the following: