On Thursday, members of the Latvian Parliament (Saeima) approved final amendments to the law, granting police the right to land or neutralize drones in cases of potential threat.
Amendments to the Law on Police stipulate that police will have the right to use special equipment to stop the movement of remotely operated devices in the air, on water, or on land if they pose a threat to public safety, individuals’ lives or health, the security of protected sites, or critical infrastructure. These actions will be permitted if the device is being used illegally or if there are suspicions of possible criminal activity.
The legal changes will also enable police special forces to respond in cases where there is suspicion that a drone is being used for criminal purposes, police representatives previously emphasized. Until now, only border guards or military personnel had the right to land or shoot down drones in cases of potential threat.
Until now, the State Police had the technical capability to identify unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including their flight route, altitude, and the location of the remote pilot. However, there were no legal grounds to capture, destroy, or forcibly land them—even when they posed a risk to public safety or critical infrastructure—according to the lawmakers behind the proposal.
On the 13th of January, Latvia’s airspace saw three instances of temporary restrictions due to drone activity in the area of Riga International Airport. Multiple drones were used during these incidents. According to the Civil Aviation Agency (CAA), defence systems failed to detect the drones because their identification functions had been disabled.
The CAA stated that available information suggests the drone flights may have been carried out deliberately to threaten the safety of civil aviation or disrupt the functioning of Latvia’s civil aviation sector.
As a result, the CAA contacted both the State Police and the State Security Service, requesting a criminal investigation into the threat posed to civil aviation.
The State Police has since confirmed that a criminal investigation has been launched into the unauthorized drone activity in the Riga Airport area.