Planning the Handling of UAS Incident Imagery and Operational Data

Identify the requesting organization, assignment, collection purpose, responsible record owner, and intended users. Operational reference imagery may have different requirements from potential evidence, training material, mapping data, public information, or a contractor deliverable.

IRIS Network should not make a legal classification for an agency. The agency records officer, investigator, counsel, public-information function, or other authorized official determines the governing policy and release requirements.

Preserve original files when the assignment or agency policy requires it. Editing, annotation, compression, cropping, mosaicking, enhancement, and report placement should occur on clearly identified working copies or derived products. The organization should be able to distinguish what the aircraft recorded from what was later processed.

Time settings, aircraft and sensor identifiers, flight or assignment reference, transfer source, and relevant location context should be recorded consistently. Do not rely on a filename alone to explain the file.

Digital files are easy to copy and alter. When integrity matters, establish a checksum or other fixity record, preserve the transfer source and destination, and document who received the material and when. An agency evidence or records system may already provide these controls.

Do not email unrestricted public links to sensitive imagery. Use an approved transfer location, limit access to authorized users, and avoid placing active incident identifiers, credentials, or access tokens in public URLs.

Define who may view, download, redistribute, annotate, release, or delete each category. Viewer access, working storage, original preservation, logs, and backups may have different retention periods. A provider should not retain mission material indefinitely merely because storage is available.

Revocation and deletion should be documented, including copies on field devices, editing workstations, cloud storage, removable media, and temporary transfer locations. Legal holds, public-record duties, case requirements, grants, contracts, and agency schedules may override a routine deletion target.

A useful operational image may still expose a person, address, plate, medical event, tactic, map layer, radio display, access point, or sensitive facility. Public-information and training use should receive a separate release review rather than inheriting operational access approval.

Redaction or de-identification produces a new derivative; it does not alter the handling requirements of the original. Record the source and approval for the released version.