Topical issues of practical application of unmanned vehicles in the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation

The paper considers the main directions of possible use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS), their significance and role in solving problems of operational search and law enforcement activities in general. The comparison of UAVS with manned aircraft is made. Among the main areas of application of UAVS in solving operational tasks the authors call their use for the implementation of operational-search and operational-preventive measures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for the detection, prevention, disclosure and investigation of crimes, for the search of criminals. The key elements of each of these areas, possibilities and features of using UAVS within them are described. At the same time, the authors identified some issues of a problematic nature related to the use of UAVS. These are, for example, the high cost of the UAVS complex and high costs for its repair and maintenance, the absence of a single unit of the Russian Interior Ministry that controls the use of UAVS in operational search activities, the lack of specialists in the use of UAVS, and the possibility of violating the constitutional rights of citizens when using UAVS.