We’ve posted about the use of drones by domestic law enforcement agencies here before. And as if the privacy concerns of the little “eyes in the skies” aren’t scary enough, some agencies are now talking about arming the drones.
According to CBS DC, Montgomery County Texas’ Chief Deputy Sheriff Randy McDaniel would like to see drones equipped with rubber bullets and tear gas. He said that this is justified because these same tools are used by police “day in and day out.”
Whether or not McDaniel’s deputies are using these tools “day in and day out” is another issue entirely. But, the thought of small robotic remote-controlled “aerial vehicles” armed with any sort of weapon is a little futuristic and a whole lot frightening.
These drones are already being used around the country as the Federal Aviation Administration has granted permission for certain agencies to use them. But none so far are armed.
Unarmed Aerial Vehicles (UAV), or drones, are controlled from remote locations. They feature infrared sensors and high-resolution cameras. Agencies see them as an effective surveillance and investigation tool for use in the war on drugs. Civil liberty groups take issue with them potentially violating people’s right to privacy, but the thought of equipping them with tear gas or rubber bullets opens up an entirely new can of worms.
“When the officer is on the scene, they have full access to info about what has transpired there,” said Catherine Crump, staff attorney for the ACLU. “An officer at a remote location [operating a drone] does not have the same level of access.”
Even Joshua Foust of the American Security Project, who feels that domestic drones can be useful and sees no problem with “floating a drone over a city,” has definite concerns with arming them. “I would be very nervous about that happening right now.”
It seems that when law enforcement is given the opportunity to make their job less personal, they will take it. For instance, given tasers, the use of physical hand-to-hand force has gone down in exchange for a simple press of a button. The hands-off approach makes the decision to hurt someone far easier.
It isn’t clear just how close we are to seeing drones armed with rubber bullets and tear gas—or even worse. But for now we know that once only military-used drones are getting approval left and right for use domestically. Things once thought of as science-fiction are becoming commonplace, so perhaps we shouldn’t brush armed drones off as an unlikely occurrence.
About David Matson