State Supreme Court says police need warrant for airborne zoom lenses

Alaska law enforcement officers now must obtain a warrant before using aircraft to scope the area around a person’s home with binoculars or cameras with zoom lenses, the state’s highest court ruled in a decision released March 8.

The Alaska Supreme Court ruling comes in a case that dates to 2012, when Alaska State Troopers received a tip from an informant that John William McKelvey III was growing marijuana on his property in a sparsely populated area north of Fairbanks.

According to the ruling, McKelvey’s property was heavily wooded, with a driveway leading to a clearing where a house and gre...