Court Opinion

ID: 9534098
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:36:46.9916+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:29.088621
License: Public Domain

DEITS, J.,
dissenting.
The majority concludes that all police use of helicopters at “low elevations”1 to investigate illegal activities is impermissible, because it invades a person’s privacy rights in violation of Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution. In *252my view, placing such a severe restriction on this effective investigatory tool is neither compelled by Article I, section 9, nor complementary to Oregon search and seizure law. Although I agree that there are circumstances in which the use of a helicopter may violate protected privacy interests, the use of the helicopter in this case did not. Accordingly, I dissent.
As the majority recognizes, Article I, section 9, protects both property and privacy interests. State v. Owens, 302 Or 196, 729 P2d 524 (1986); see also State v. Dixson/Digby, 307 Or 195, 766 P2d 1015 (1988). Defendants’ property interests were not violated here, because the police did not physically intrude on their property by flying 500 feet above it.2 The more difficult question is whether the police actions violated defendants’ privacy interests. A privacy interest under Article I, section 9, is an interest in freedom from particular forms of scrutiny. State v. Campbell, 306 Or 157, 166, 759 P2d 1040 (1988). The majority concludes that the use of helicopters is an unacceptable form of scrutiny:
“In our view, the hovering or circling of aircraft at low elevations, when engaged in for the purpose of finding out what is on, or what is happening, on a person’s property, would diminish the privacy and freedom of citizens to a point that is inconsistent with the free and open society envisioned by the framers of Oregon’s Constitution. It would be a ‘significant impairment of the people’s freedom from scrutiny.’ ” 95 Or App 240, 246, 770 P2d 58. (Citation omitted.)
In reaching its conclusion, the majority relies heavily on the Supreme Court’s conclusion in Campbell that the use of a radio transmitter is an impermissible form of scrutiny. That tail-end reliance is misplaced. The lesson in Campbell is that the validity of a technologically enhanced surveillance depends on the particular impact that the surveillance has on the person’s privacy interests. In contrast to the detailed impact analysis performed in Campbell, the majority in this case simply concludes that helicopter surveillances are too intrusive. The majority completely fails to recognize and discuss the significant distinctions between the intrusiveness of radio transmitters and helicopters.
*253In Campbell, the court discussed the impact that the use of radio transmitters could have on an individual’s privacy interest:
“Any device that enables the police quickly to locate a person or object anywhere within a 40-mile radius, day or night, over a period of several days, is a significant limitation on freedom from scrutiny, as the facts of this case demonstrate. The limitation is made more substantial by the fact that the radio transmitter is much more difficult to detect than would-be observers who must rely upon the sense of sight. Without an ongoing, meticulous examination of one’s possessions, one can never be sure that one’s location is not being monitored by means of a radio transmitter. Thus, individuals must more readily assume that they are the objects of government scrutiny. Professor Amsterdam and Justice Harlan, among others, have observed that freedom may be impaired as much, if not more so, by the threat of scrutiny as by the fact of scrutiny.
“The problem presented by this case is essentially much like that presented in Katz, which was whether using a hidden listening device placed in a public place could be considered a search. Conversations in public may be overheard, but it is relatively easy to avoid eavesdroppers by lowering the voice or moving away. Moreover, one can be reasonably sure of whether one will be overheard. But if the state’s position in this case is correct, no movement, no location and no conversation in a ‘public place’ would in any measure be secure from the prying of the government. There would in addition be no ready means for individuals to ascertain when they were being scrutinized and when they were not. That is nothing short of a staggering limitation upon personal freedom. We could not be faithful to the principles underlying Article I, section 9, and conclude that such forms of surveillance were not searches.” 306 Or at 171. (Citations omitted.)
It is clear that the Campbell conclusion that the use of radio transmitters is an unacceptable form of surveillance was based on the highly intrusive nature of the device — in particular, the ability it gave police to follow an individual, day or night, anywhere within a 40-mile radius, and the fact that it is extremely difficult for an individual to detect and avoid the use of such a device. The use of aircraft for police surveillance presents an altogether different situation. In contrast to the use of radio transmitters, air traffic is an accepted part of everyday life. As noted by the United States Supreme Court in Florida v. Riley, 488 US _, 109 S Ct 693, 102 L Ed 2d 835, *2541989, the use of helicopters in public airways in this country is routine.3 Individuals commonly observe aircraft overhead, they are aware that their property and person may be observed from the sky, and they can easily detect the presence of airplanes or helicopters when they are close by. Further, unlike the use of a radio transmitter, which by its very nature is always used covertly, the circumstances under which actual surveillance by aircraft may occur will vary considerably.
The majority asserts that it is irrelevant that an individual can detect aircraft flying overhead, but not a radio transmitter surreptitiously planted on his person or his property. That assertion is simply incorrect. As stated by the court in Campbell: “The limitation [on freedom from scrutiny] is made more substantial by the fact that the radio transmitter is much more difficult to detect than would-be observers who must rely on the sense of sight.” 306 Or at 172. In other words, an individual’s knowledge that he is being observed minimizes the seriousness of the intrusion on his privacy because he can take steps to prevent the observation and because the fear of on-going but undetectable scrutiny is not present. Such is the case with aerial surveillance.
The majority opinion attempts to establish a definitive rule as to the permissibility of aerial surveillance by helicopter. Although that may be a laudable objective from the standpoint of providing predictability in law enforcement practices, it is simply impossible to adopt such an all-encompassing rule because of the variety of circumstances under which helicopter surveillance may occur. As the Supreme Court concluded in State v. Dixson/Digby, 307 Or 195, 211, 766 P2d 1015 (1988), the determination of whether Article I, section 9, has been violated must often be made on a case-by-case basis:
“Under Article I, section 9 * * *, the question is whether governmental intrusions into privately owned land would significantly impair an individual’s interest in freedom from scrutiny, i.e., his privacy. The answer is: That depends.”
*255In my opinion, aerial surveillance generally may occur without violating protected privacy interests. Observations made from fixed-wing aircraft flying over navigable airspace in a nonintrusive manner do not significantly impair an individual’s freedom from scrutiny. See State v. Farkes, 71 Or App 155, 161, 691 P2d 489 (1984), rev den 298 Or 704 (1985). Police making observations from such aircraft are in a place where they have a right to be and, having limited maneuverability, are subject to significant physical and legal restrictions as to the actual conditions of flight. Although those restrictions are not necessarily designed to protect privacy interests, officers who abide by them will seldom intrude impermissibly into the privacy of those on the ground.
Helicopters, however, present additional problems. Apparently, there are no general limitations on the altitudes at which they may fly. See 14 CFR § 91.79(d) (1986). Further, their capacity to perform aerial maneuvers with great control and precision makes the privacy interests of those on the ground considerably more vulnerable than is the situation with fixed wing aircraft. Accordingly, to permit the police, when engaged in criminal law enforcement, to use helicopters to the limits of their technical capabilities could destroy the protections that Article I, section 9, was intended to provide. Because of the wide variety of circumstances under which a helicopter might be used, and in the absence of legislative guidance, we are not in a position to draw precise lines between permissible and impermissible uses. Whether aerial surveillance of any nature constitutes a search depends on all the circumstances involved: whether the police were in a place where they had no right to be; whether the intensity and duration of the surveillance, including the altitude and speed of the aircraft, was overly intrusive; whether the aerial observation was undertaken for the sole purpose of looking for illegal activity on defendants’ property;4 whether other *256sophisticated equipment was used;5 and whether the nature and circumstances of the object of the observation are particularly private. See State v. Dixson/Digby, supra; State v. Owens, supra.
I would conclude, in this case, that the police action did not constitute a search. Although the aerial surveillance was a determined, official effort to observe illegal drug activities on defendants’ property, its intensity and duration were limited. The observations were made from an altitude of approximately 500 feet and took only a short time.6 Although the officer conducting the surveillance made some additional efforts to confirm his observations, the affidavit used to obtain the warrant did not rely on them, and we need not determine if they violated defendants’ rights. The police were in a place they had a right to be; the helicopter was in navigable airspace. No other surveillance equipment was used. Defendants had taken steps to conceal the plants among the trees; however, the trees were 300 feet from the house and would not normally be considered particularly private. I believe that these factors, when considered together, show that there was no significant impairment of defendants’ freedom from scrutiny. Accordingly, I would conclude that defendants’ Article I, section 9, rights were not violated.7
Richardson, Rossman and Riggs, JJ., join in this dissenting opinion.

 The majority concludes that the elevation of the helicopter was not critical, but notes that, if it was, it would be necessary to remand to the trial court for findings on that point. I do not agree that a remand would be necessary. The defendants’ challenge to the accuracy of the affidavit is in the nature of a motion to controvert. Pursuant to ORS 133.693(3), defendants had the burden to establish the inaccuracy of the affidavit. Having denied the challenge to the accuracy of the affidavit, the trial court had no further obligation to make findings of fact.

 I concur in Judge Rossman’s conclusion that defendants did not have a property right in the airspace above their property.

 The Supreme Court specifically noted in Florida v. Riley, supra:
“The first use of the helicopter by police was in New York in 1947, and today every State in the country uses helicopters in police work. As of 1980, there was 1,500 of such aircraft used in police work. More than 10,000 helicopters, both public and private, are registered in the United States, and there are an estimated 31,697 helicopter pilots.” 488 US at _ n 2.

 See State v. Slowikowski, 307 Or 19, 761 P2d 1315 (1988). As noted by Judge Riggs in his separate dissent, the majority incorrectly relies on Slowikowski for the proposition that all purposive actions by police constitute searches. As Judge Riggs correctly points out, Slowikowski does not hold that every purposive action by a police officer constitutes a search in the constitutional sense. The fact that the use of the helicopter in this case was a “determined official effort” to observe defendants’ property does not automatically make the police action a search, any more than an inadvertent observation by the police is automatically not a search. Again, whether the police action was a search depends on all the circumstances of the case.

 I do not agree with Judge Rossman’s conclusion that a helicopter is not a technological enhancement simply because it does not enhance an officer’s sensory perceptions. Just as a high-powered telescope allows an officer to be in a position to observe something he could not otherwise observe, a helicopter puts an officer in a position to make observations he could not make without the use of a helicopter. I agree with Judge Riggs that the fact that a technological enhancement is used is not determinative. Rather, the intrusiveness of the activity is the key issue.

 Neither the majority opinion nor the dissents should be construed as establishing 500 feet as a “bright line” between permissible and impermissible observations from helicopters.

 I agree with Judge Rossman that, under Florida v. Riley, supra, there clearly was no violation of defendants’ rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.