Drone gets footage of man with prostitute, leads to arrest in Oklahoma

By Jason Hahn Published December 5, 2015

drone used record arrest man act prostitute oklahoma — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Drones are going to make it a lot easier for Santa to find out who’s naughty and nice this year. In Oklahoma, an activist and private investigator used his drone to get footage of a “John” and a prostitute consummating their transaction in a car. The video led to the man’s arrest.

Brian Bates, who runs a website that documents “the graphic realities of street prostitution,” captured the footage in question in March and posted the video in August, according to Ars Technica. He said the endeavor began when he saw a female he knew to be a prostitute in the area. After following the John’s car and using his camcorder, he noticed that the prostitute’s pimp was nearby. As a safety precaution, he deployed his drone to get closer footage of the incident.

“It got footage, that otherwise, I don’t think I would’ve gotten,” Bates told News 9. “They were parked in an area where they could’ve seen any one walking up on them.”

He turned the video over to authorities, and Oklahoma County prosecutors charged the man and woman with engaging in lewd acts.

“The use of drones by law enforcement and civilians alike is an emerging area of the law,” First Assistant District Attorney Scott Rowland told News 9. He added that the Constitution does not put any legal restrictions on the civilian use of drones to provide video to law enforcement in the way it does for government parties.

Hollywood stars have already received protection from camera drones in California, and the issue is certain to become a hotter issue as the devices grow in popularity.

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Jason Hahn is a part-time freelance writer based in New Jersey. He earned his master's degree in journalism at Northwestern…

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