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Drone seized by police at Los Angeles park

Posted by Timothy Clemans on August 7, 2014 at 1:30pm

Los Angeles has the following law for parks: "No person shall land, release, take off or fly any balloon, except children toy balloons not inflated with any flammable material, helicopter, parakite, hang glider, aircraft or powered models thereof, except in areas specifically set aside therefor." http://www.laparks.org/venice/pdf/lamc63.pdf A compliant by the US Navy led to the seizure of a drone and citation under this law. It's important to note this operator attracted attention after he flew over a police parking lot and city attorneys advised police no laws were broken. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lapd-civilian-drone-hollywood-lot-20140801-story.html

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  • Timothy Clemans August 7, 2014 at 10:11pm

    A Lurker, awesome response :) not sure about the "No photography permitted" signs. My understanding is photography is permitted on the boat but not at the security sign. 

  • A Lurker August 7, 2014 at 10:09pm

    Okay... Let's see.

    USN ship in the background, probably a New Orleans class. Check.
    Secured area (port) in the background. Check.
    Security conscious people, including folks with guns who use terms like "FPCON Bravo Plus" and "Ensign Remington to the Quarterdeck," kindly calling local police instead of throwing operator to ground with condition zero weapons drawn. Check.
    What look to be "No Photography Permitted" signs in the background of the video. Check.
    Bad area for anyone to even consider flying. Check.

    Individual who should have known better posting a whine-cam video to Youtube. Check.

    Person who should have known better losing their DJI Phantom. Check.
    Justifiable seizure because of stupid behavior? Definitely.

  • Timothy Clemans August 7, 2014 at 7:42pm

    Tom, This incident was handled by Port of Los Angeles Police http://www.portoflosangeles.org/security/port_police.asp 

  • Tom Mahood August 7, 2014 at 7:40pm

    Gary, the park regulations are part of the Los Angeles City ordinances which the Los Angeles PD is authorized to enforce. Don't know about the property confiscation rights though.

  • Timothy Clemans August 7, 2014 at 7:13pm

    Gary the parking lot incident is separate. The Navy called police because they don't want drones flying over their ships. 

  • R. D. Starwalt August 7, 2014 at 5:45pm

    This type of restrictive law/statute reminds me of restrictive covenants established in subdivisions that prohibit antenna towers or external antennas. Ham radio operators have struggled with these 'laws' even though the Amateur Radio Service is protected by Federal law via the FCC.

    What's a ham going to do? Not buy a house in such a community/neighborhood.

    What's an RC hobbyist going to do? Not fly in places where such things are prohibited.

    How's an RC hobbyist going to know before he/she flies somewhere?

    Sounds like a great project for database integration of 'do not fly' areas into set up software.

    Oh wait, haven't we discussed this somewhere else??

    -=Doug

  • Gary McCray August 7, 2014 at 4:51pm

    Your first link doesn't work because of the included space and "A" after the ".pdf".

    After reviewing the regulations, it does not appear that anywhere authority is granted to the police for either enforcement of park regulations or the seizure of property even based on breaking park regulations.

    Regardless, flying over a police station is asking for trouble.

This reply was deleted.