Investigation: Could China be using NC law enforcement drones to collect spy data?

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — The possibility of Chinese technology spying on Americans is a real concern, and now there’s added worry that a law enforcement group in North Carolina could end up with some of that tech, specifically drones, in their hands.

The drones in question are made by made by DJI and lots of them are used.

In fact, the CBS 17 SKYEYE team operates a pair of them, but there’s worry that drones manufactured by DJI could compromise security—if owned by law enforcement.

Drones are useful in many ways and their potential is growing as people and companies find more ways to innovate with them.

DJI is one of of the biggest drone makers in the world. The China-based company which has the lion’s share of the drone market and the firm has close ties to the Chinese government.

As early as 2017, Homeland security issued an intelligence bulletin, which states that the DJI drones “are likely providing US Critical infrastructure and laws enforcement data to the Chinese government.”

This past January, the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a joint directive warning about Chinese-made drones saying: A Chinese Intelligence law “compels Chinese companies to cooperate with state intelligence services including providing access to data collected within China and around the world.”

Among their concerns:

• Chinese-made drones could allow data transfer and collection using smartphones as controllers.
• Patching and firmware updates could allow hidden data collection programs to be introduced into software.
• Broader Data collection could be accomplished using survey data  or layouts of sensitive facilities.

Congress is worried about the problem too.

“With Chinese drones, the ability to potentially have a backdoor that video that could be recorded could end up in a bad spot,” said Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat. “I think we have to go the extra mile with technology that comes from China’s and Russia’s and put extra protections in place.’’

Here in North Carolina, we found documents from the NC Sheriffs Association regarding the bids being made for equipment procurement for the 2024/2025 contract year. They have asked 19 different companies to submit bids for drones, among them DJI.

At this point, we don’t know where the bidding process stands.

CBS 17 reached out to the NC Sheriffs Association for a comment, but have not heard back from them. In the meantime, the winning bids will be announced soon.