Drone use by police. Different applications and configurations

[droneadmin]

Does anyone think it won't be long until every police force, and potentially every squad car, will be equipped with a tactical drone of some kind?

What are your thoughts on potential uses and equipment types or specialized drone configurations?

Some that came to mind were:

Intelligence gathering in a live volatile situation with potentially armed criminals. HD camera

Search and rescue for missing people (or pets). Infrared cameras.

Possibly equip the drone with a weapon or weapons

Drone capable of dropping or delivering tear gas to a specific location

Taser equipped drone? Use a drone to chase down suspect and taser them instead of chase on foot. A racing drone would work nice here

Send a drone to inspect a vehicle before officer approaches it


I think this could be a big segment for the drone industry.

 

[Petr Hejl]

Does anyone think it won't be long until every police force, and potentially every squad car, will be equipped with a tactical drone of some kind?

What are your thoughts on potential uses and equipment types or specialized drone configurations?

Some that came to mind were:

Intelligence gathering in a live volatile situation with potentially armed criminals. HD camera

Search and rescue for missing people (or pets). Infrared cameras.

Possibly equip the drone with a weapon or weapons

Drone capable of dropping or delivering tear gas to a specific location

Taser equipped drone? Use a drone to chase down suspect and taser them instead of chase on foot. A racing drone would work nice here

Send a drone to inspect a vehicle before officer approaches it


I think this could be a big segment for the drone industry.

Absolutely, drones can be really helpful in that line of work. I think that in the short term we'll see more and more SAR done operations. Just like for commercial operators, the biggest barrier to this will be the regulations and civil liberty groups. I think that the role of drones in police world will depend on what's legally, not technologically possible. A small wearable drone that a cop can throw up in the air and use to check an area before entering it would be great, and definitely helpful in "active shooter" and similar situations. Also, one can imagine a drone as an accessory to a police cruiser, providing the officers with greater situational awareness, possibly getting to an accident scene before the police car. I do think that the technology has to get a little simpler to use. It is hard to imagine a cop trying to chase someone while flying a drone.

 

[Talon Six]

Unfortunately this is a complicated issue and extends well beyond the practical applications you guys mention. When you have many states saying that ANY use of a drone by law enforcement must be authorized by a warrant, simple photography of a traffic accident scene becomes bureaucratically burdensome.

Here's a great video on how stupid people can get over police use of drones:

 

[droneadmin]

Unfortunately this is a complicated issue and extends well beyond the practical applications you guys mention. When you have many states saying that ANY use of a drone by law enforcement must be authorized by a warrant, simple photography of a traffic accident scene becomes bureaucratically burdensome.

Here's a great video on how stupid people can get over police use of drones:

Yes, definitely the expected reaction to something new like this. If it was anything different I would be surprised a bit. I agree it is complicated right now but the genie is out of the bottle so to speak and I think people will eventually get used to seeing the law enforcement usage rise over time. At some point people won't bat an eye. Does anyone get shocked watching somebody get Tasered these days? People probably were upset when radar came out way back when.

I have no idea what the timeline will be on this but pretty sure as strong use case applications come forward the politicians will have a forced hand to approve these uses. As Petr points out, an active shooter around a corner or hiding in a building is a great use of a small drone to keep police safer while providing situational awareness

 

[Talon Six]

Does anyone get shocked watching somebody get Tasered these days?

Speaking from experience, the people on the receiving end of the taser get really shocked...

Okay back to topic!

 

[Petr Hejl]

They could also use the DJI AG drone to disperse pepper spray on non-compliant crowd, lol, no need for a photo/video warrant there...