It seems as if you can’t go a single day now without hearing about a new amazing invention or some feat of modern ingenuity. It’s these discoveries and advancements that propel society forward,all while highlighting what we’re capable of achieving when we embrace progress.

But it isn’t always something new that comes along and fundamentally impacts the way we go about our lives. Sometimes this is achieved just by looking at something in a new way. That’s essentially what happened recently when a judge decided to lift the ban on the commercial use of drones. This is big news for a variety of industries but here we’ll go over some of the ways this ruling will affect private investigation.

Private investigators thrive on information and our jobs depend on our ability to gather enough of it. That’s why for a private investigator knowing the lay of the land is crucial. And drones are powerful tools that can help us do just that. We should take a moment here to say that drones themselves aren’t ideal for actual surveillance.There are a number of reasons for this. First, drones are noisy and conspicuous. They also run on a very limited battery source. Outside of military drones you won’t be able to keep one in the air for more than 10minutes. And then lastly, most drones are operated with GoPro cameras. While these small cameras are durable and lightweight–they aren’t able to capture the details necessary to be acceptable for our work.

Where drones truly excel is in the pre-surveillance period.The can be used to identify areas that would best be used to carry out the actual surveillance operation. Or they could be used to find routes through unmapped terrain, such as woodland areas. You can also use it to find hidden or stolen property that has been tucked away on the edge of someone’s yard. And on top of this drones can also be used to conduct accident reconstructions.

When it comes to the investigative fields, drones provide a level of information gathering power that can really only be matched with the use of a helicopter. And it should go without saying that it is fair less expensive to operate a drone than a helicopter.

Unfortunately, there are some out there who are overly suspicious and hostile toward drone usage. Their reason being that drones will be utilized for spying on the general population and for invading people’s privacy. These claims are unfounded for a number of reasons and we feel that it is necessary to clear up this misconception.

Above we have already highlighted several of the limitations of drones. These are the issues which prevent them being the threat to privacy that anti-drone advocates accuse them of being. First and foremost–drones are noisy. And surveillance only works if the subject doesn’t know they’re being watched. Then there is the issue with their cameras. As mentioned before most drones are used with GoPro cameras, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fit a different–more powerful one in its place. The issue with this is that you have to be very, very careful with adding weight to the drone.That’s because drones take a large amount of energy to take off and remain airborne. So if you want to incorporate more advanced, and likely, heavier items with your drone you will be cutting down its flight time. And as it is,drones aren’t able to stay airborne long enough to be useful in surveillance.