Iowa’s New Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Law Goes into Effect

New legislation restricting the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for law enforcement is now in effect in the state of Iowa.

The Iowa Senate Democrats originally reported in April that the Iowa Senate had approved a law that would prohibit UAVs from being used for traffic enforcement. In other words, UAVs cannot be used to “gather admissible evidence for a criminal or civil case only after securing a warrant or if its efforts are consistent with state and federal laws.”

The report also says that under the law, the state’s Department of Public Safety must “convene a group, including state and local entities, to determine whether the Iowa criminal code should be modified to regulate the use of drones, and to develop model guidelines for their use.”