Hamilton police should halt drone program, Ontario-wide investigation needed: former privacy commissioner
CBC
Ontario's former privacy commissioner says the current commissioner should launch a province-wide investigation on how police services are using drones, and programs like the one by Hamilton Police Service (HPS) should shut down until that's done.
"What Hamilton police is doing with these drones is appalling," Ann Cavoukian told CBC Hamilton.
"I don't believe the value of it is greater than the harm it introduces."
Her comments come after a CBC Hamilton investigation revealed details about when, how and why police use drones. It prompted privacy researchers to point out "red flags" in the program including a lack of transparent and gaps in its privacy assessment.
Since then, CBC has learned the office of Ontario's current Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) was never consulted about the drone program — despite HPS saying it conducted a privacy assessment that is "in compliance" with the IPC.
"They definitely should've cleared this with the privacy commissioner and clearly they didn't," Cavoukian said.
"If I was privacy commissioner still, I would launch an investigation right away."
The new information prompts additional questions about the amount of effort HPS put into trying to safeguard people's privacy.
The HPS privacy impact assessment (PIA), obtained through a freedom of information request, is a document outlining a voluntary process that looks at how the technology may impact people's privacy and is in compliance with privacy laws.
Privacy and police researchers previously praised HPS for conducting a PIA.
The PIA states HPS sought "guidance" from two documents — authored by Cavoukian — and one by Canada's privacy commissioner about drones and privacy impact assessments.
But a review of those documents shows Hamilton police didn't follow all of the recommendations in them.
One of the guiding documents recommends having public consultation before launching the program.
The IPC also emphasized the importance of public consultation in its email to CBC.