It seems like every industry is using flying drones to conduct business. From Amazon delivering packages door-to-door all the way to the local pizza man using drones to deliver wings, breadsticks and delicious pizza. On a side note, mark my words I will shoot any pizza drone out of the sky and take your pizza.
Police have begun using them too. Many departments around The United States are using drug money to purchase and sustain a drone program. There are many applications like using them in an active shooter situation, searching for missing people, or children. However, many people, including me are worried that drones will also prove useful in surveillance initiatives.
A police drone on my property without a warrant is a violation of the 4th amendment. But we have even more to concern ourselves with. Police drones have the ability to be weaponized, they have the ability or soon will have the ability to hold facial recognition software that can catalog and identify people on sight.
The ACLU is working with many law enforcement agencies across the country to legislate the parameters of a police drones use and rightfully so.
Warrants are required when searching in areas that aren't reasonably open to the public, i.e. in my yard. Even more laws are being made to limit facial recognition technology or weaponizing drones, but like everything else in this country it's only the beginning. And we tend to lose our rights as safety concerns leech into our rights to freedom
We are facing extraordinary times that require diligence on our part to help restrict policies that would circumvent our god given rights to move around freely and without concern for 24/7 surveillance.
Learn more about the Cato institutes study on law enforcement and drones HERE