Unmanned aerial vehicles as a segment of digital technologies in the criminal and post-criminal reality

Abstract

Changes in technologies and the transition to the digital format are evident in all spheres of society, they are altering not only the criminal and post-criminal reality, but also the system of law enforcement bodies’ work. One of such segments of digital techniques and technologies with a multidisciplinary significance is unmanned areal vehicles (UAVs). Public disputes regarding the legal regulation of the use of UAVs are becoming more heated in the era of transition to digital technologies. The object of research is UAVs and related processes in the legal sphere in Russia and abroad, the studied aspect is the regularities of the criminal and post-criminal reality. Although there is no official statistical data on the number of registered reports on illegal use of UAVs, for the purposes of this article the authors have identified and studied over one thousand such incidents in the Russian legal field. The authors present the basic part of their forecast for the criminal and post-criminal reality and the use of UAVs (tactical and strategic aspects). The paper predicts the emergence of new phenomena, processes, events and situations caused by the consequences of integrating UAVs in the criminal and post-criminal reality of Russia and other countries. The controversy of such processes is predetermined by the opposing types of human activities recognized by researchers of criminalistics: in the first case, it is criminal activities (crimes), and in the second — anti-crime work of the state (detection and investigation of crimes, and in some cases — court proceedings). The analysis of the use of UAVs by the law enforcement bodies has revealed a number of systemic, organizational, legal and methodological problems and drawbacks. The authors present their conclusions regarding the patterns in the use of UAVs in criminal and post-criminal situations, outline key problems of the research support of law enforcement activities involving UAVs and ways of solving them.