Drone Seized

[robert826177]

Having just owned my dji mavic air 2 for only a month,I was visited by Humberside police in January of this year and arrested on suspicion of stalking and harassment and my drone combo was seized.After the investigation was over and after numerous attempts to claim my property back i have been fobbed off by the investigating officer DC1252 Watson.I said when I was arrested (when am I going to get my drone back) The reply from her was ( when the investigation is complete).Well,that was a lie and I'm still waiting for my £1000 bird back.
The fact is.I have a paranoid neighbour who reported me to police as he thought I was spying on him.and that I was hiding in the car park with my remote controller.Ha!
What a F##×ing joker.Look who's talking mr paranoid neighbour who has his curtains closed all day.walking his dogs eyes left,right,up,down,behind,What can you do with such a paranoid idiot of a neighbour.He cost me 1000 quid.
I believe Humberside police have unintentionally damaged my drone as I had a sponge block to jam the gimbal movement whilst in transit.and are not returning it for that reason.It certainly isn't to prevent (so called) re-offending because I telephoned the police in spite to tell them I now have a mavic enterprise thermal, Now when are you coming to seized this one.
BEWARE OF PARANOID NEIGHBOURS!!!!!

 

[Cafguy]

WOW..... In my state in almost all cases they will just relieve you of your controller. They don't want a thousand dollar liability in their evidence room. I will say in the U.S. the police rarely arrest a person without some sort of cause or proof. Most Dept's will gather as much evidence as possible before making an arrest. Either intentionally or unintentionally you must have given them cause for your arrest somehow even if you are innocent.
If the Government there is anything like ours Then your poor drone is in Limbo and at the mercy of your government.
Do you have a Cousin Vinny?

 

[Rchawks]

That was a good movie.

 

[AeroJ]

Wow - that sounds horrendous - my sympathies, and hope you get it back asap.

Without implying that this is what you should have done, it does raise the question of could this have been avoided by popping a short note through all your neighbours doors before you ever took off, explaining that you sometimes use the grounds for drone testing, and not to worry - you are not spying on them, or even necessarily filming most of the time but usually conducting test flights in order to setup the machine. Of course we can't know with hindsight if it would have made a difference here, or whether it may have made it worse (no predicting the reaction of paranoid nutters to that sort of note!) but I would posit there might be a reasonable chance it might have helped. Of course it's a shame we have to think to do things like that to avoid dreadful problems like this, but perhaps it is inevitable when we are flying in close proximity to people's homes and gardens ?

I have a small private field up the top of my drive and used to consider myself fine to fly there for the 'home tests'.
I also didn't do the notes, but the very first time I got a big quad off the ground the woman next door felt it necessary to barge her way through 5 ft of hedgerow into my field to tell me I couldn't fly it anywhere here because it upset her dogs. I managed, on that occasion to pacify her by promising to keep it mainly under the treeline, but it easily could have gone the other way. I do understand the worry people feel if a noisy, hover-y thing with a camera suddenly appears and hovers in the vicinity, but you'd really hope that once explained people would chill out and just accept your hobby means occasional local flights.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Having just owned my dji mavic air 2 for only a month,I was visited by Humberside police in January of this year and arrested on suspicion of stalking and harassment and my drone combo was seized.After the investigation was over and after numerous attempts to claim my property back i have been fobbed off by the investigating officer DC1252 Watson.I said when I was arrested (when am I going to get my drone back) The reply from her was ( when the investigation is complete).Well,that was a lie and I'm still waiting for my £1000 bird back.
The fact is.I have a paranoid neighbour who reported me to police as he thought I was spying on him.and that I was hiding in the car park with my remote controller.Ha!
What a F##×ing joker.Look who's talking mr paranoid neighbour who has his curtains closed all day.walking his dogs eyes left,right,up,down,behind,What can you do with such a paranoid idiot of a neighbour.He cost me 1000 quid.
I believe Humberside police have unintentionally damaged my drone as I had a sponge block to jam the gimbal movement whilst in transit.and are not returning it for that reason.It certainly isn't to prevent (so called) re-offending because I telephoned the police in spite to tell them I now have a mavic enterprise thermal, Now when are you coming to seized this one.
BEWARE OF PARANOID NEIGHBOURS!!!!!

You need to get all your facts and documentation together and make an appointment with a solicitor. I'm surprised you haven't been down this path already... 7 months is more than enough time for Dibble to investigate a minor complaint.

 

[mavic3usa]

A drone is contraband. Contraband is never returned even after the investigation is completed. Even a court order may not get your equipment returned and if you do, it will be damaged and destroyed beyond repair. You would be better to write this one off and chalk it up as a loss. Not sure why you would want it back anyway, just put in a claim.

 

[AeroJ]

A drone is contraband. Contraband is never returned even after the investigation is completed.

In the UK I believe that is not the case if there were no subsequent charges, and possibly even if there were ! It was evidence, will have provided the information they sought from it, and has completed that function at the end of the investigation. It is not a banned item, or illegal to own, so why would they not give it back ?

And there is no need for them to damage the drone in retrieving the footage from it, so what makes you think they will have ? Some of our police might be a bit vague about the drone laws initially, but I don't think any of them are taking hammers to them unless they get destroy orders from the courts !

 

[Myetkt]

A drone is contraband. Contraband is never returned even after the investigation is completed. Even a court order may not get your equipment returned and if you do, it will be damaged and destroyed beyond repair. You would be better to write this one off and chalk it up as a loss. Not sure why you would want it back anyway, just put in a claim.

How many years have you worked for a police or sheriff’s dept, and of those years how many have you worked in evidence?

 

[Myetkt]

A drone is contraband. Contraband is never returned even after the investigation is completed. Even a court order may not get your equipment returned and if you do, it will be damaged and destroyed beyond repair. You would be better to write this one off and chalk it up as a loss. Not sure why you would want it back anyway, just put in a claim.

Ha, shocking, no reply.

 

[mavic3usa]

Ha, shocking, no reply.

I don't provide personal information on the public forums, sorry about that.

 

[Myetkt]

I don't provide personal information on the public forums, sorry about that.

I think it’s more like you don’t want to provide personal information about subject you know nothing about. But I already knew that.

 

[mavic3usa]

I think it’s more like you don’t want to provide personal information about subject you know nothing about. But I already knew that.

That too; I don't want to. Because it's irrelevant to the topic and I want to keep it about drones and drones seized as contraband. If the police wanted to prosecute a case about stalking and harassment, they would have seized the memory card or the drone footage in memory or flight records but by taking the drone itself, that should tell you something.

It's 2024 not 1985. "Are you a lawyer?" "No, so how could you know anything about the law or your rights?" Frankly, that's washed up by now and doesn't work with my generation, Myetkt.

 

[Myetkt]

That too; I don't want to. Because it's irrelevant to the topic and I want to keep it about drones and drones seized as contraband. If the police wanted to prosecute a case about stalking and harassment, they would have seized the memory card or the drone footage in memory or flight records but by taking the drone itself, that should tell you something.

It's 2024 not 1985. "Are you a lawyer?" "No, so how could you know anything about the law or your rights?" Frankly, that's washed up by now and doesn't work with my generation, Myetkt.

“Taking the drone itself, that should tell you something,. Really? What is it supposed to tell me? I’m guessing in your world the police are fighting in the evidence room about who gets to take it home. And how do you know I’m not a lawyer? Apparently like so many other posts you have made, you really know very little or nothing about the subjects you speak of.

 

[Myetkt]

That too; I don't want to. Because it's irrelevant to the topic and I want to keep it about drones and drones seized as contraband. If the police wanted to prosecute a case about stalking and harassment, they would have seized the memory card or the drone footage in memory or flight records but by taking the drone itself, that should tell you something.

It's 2024 not 1985. "Are you a lawyer?" "No, so how could you know anything about the law or your rights?" Frankly, that's washed up by now and doesn't work with my generation, Myetkt.

One other thing, wouldn’t it be relevant to a jury to see what the drone looked like and not just what’s on a flash card? Maybe, how loud was the drone, what’s the resolution of the camera, how does it compare with the new Neo. These are things a prosecutor or a defense attorney might want the jury to know when prosecuting or defending a client. But of course, the police would just consider the drone nothing more than…what did you say.. oh that’s right contraband. Good grief.

 

[mavic3usa]

"Are you a lawyer?" "No, so how could you know anything about the law or your rights?"

This is an example of the same old tired statement that was troped around for decades while in the process of denying people their rights. And for some strange reason, it's still in use today in different forms such as "Are you a cop?" It's ridiculous. I don't know what you are....it doesn't matter. That's my I'm confused why you are asking me because it's irrelevant.

“Taking the drone itself, that should tell you something,. Really?

It does. It matters. Really. The police know they have to get a warrant to look at the contents in memory which means they need PC unless they have the balls to lie to a judge. Otherwise, they can just take the drone claiming to preserve the evidence (and punish the owner at the same time) until they figure out what to do. If a cop catches you speeding, they don't seize the car as evidence. If you were on the phone while driving (illegal in some states) the police can't take your cellphone for texting and driving. But I know they wish they could: If a hit and run occurred in a parking lot, cops have been known to seize and tow Teslas who's camera may have recorded a crime (bogus). That's what I'm talking about.

 

[mavic3usa]

One other thing, wouldn’t it be relevant to a jury to see what the drone looked like and not just what’s on a flash card? Maybe, how loud was the drone, what’s the resolution of the camera, how does it compare with the new Neo. These are things a prosecutor or a defense attorney might want the jury to know when prosecuting or defending a client. But of course, the police would just consider the drone nothing more than…what did you say.. oh that’s right contraband. Good grief.

Get a warrant. It's called the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Look it up please.

Contraband is what the police illegally mark it so they don't ever have to give it back ever again even if the investigation is over but has the possibility it could re-opened. You'll probably need a really good lawyer and several judge's orders if you want it back and they don't want you to have it.

 

[Myetkt]

Get a warrant. It's called the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Look it up please.

Contraband is what the police illegally mark it so they don't ever have to give it back ever again even if the investigation is over but has the possibility it could re-opened. You'll probably need a really good lawyer and several judge's orders if you want it back and they don't want you to have it.

Just out of curiosity, what do you think happens to it? Once the case is over one way or another where does it go?

 

[mavic3usa]

Just out of curiosity, what do you think happens to it? Once the case is over one way or another where does it go?

If I hate the guy and wanted to keep his stuff, once the case is over I would tell him to go ask a judge if we wants to keep his stuff back. The case could go to appeal and so it's still in evidence; this could be another year. And then I'd find a reason to go around any orders from any court in the meantime. And then somewhere along the way, I would contend there were potential federal (FAA) violations discovered like maybe we suspected the drone was used in delivering contraband to a nearby prison and we ended up putting the drone into civil asset forfeiture and we don't have it anymore (it has been destroyed). You might get paid but if we wanted not, you will never ever see that drone again. Rather than spend all this time and money, just submit a receipt for the drone and get paid quickly and move on.

 

[Myetkt]

If I hate the guy and wanted to keep his stuff, once the case is over I would tell him to go ask a judge if we wants to keep his stuff back. The case could go to appeal and so it's still in evidence; this could be another year. And then I'd find a reason to go around any orders from any court in the meantime. And then somewhere along the way, I would contend there were potential federal (FAA) violations discovered like maybe we suspected the drone was used in delivering contraband to a nearby prison and we ended up putting the drone into civil asset forfeiture and we don't have it anymore (it has been destroyed). You might get paid but if we wanted not, you will never ever see that drone again. Rather than spend all this time and money, just submit a receipt for the drone and get paid quickly and move on.

Unbelievable.. you are simply unbelievable, and if anyone in the court or law enforcement system tried what you are suggesting here, they would be fired and most likely prosecuted. Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.

 

[mavic3usa]

Unbelievable.. you are simply unbelievable, and if anyone in the court or law enforcement system tried what you are suggesting here, they would be fired and most likely prosecuted. Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.

I agree. Shame on such people. Anyway, I'll finish off this conversation where you can take a few minutes and listen to a lawyer discuss the legal aspects which make these types of situation so complicated and prevalent and open to abuse. Obviously it's not 1-for-1 but you might get the point:

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