Aerial Drones: Coming to a Police Department Near You
Some advice: Get all your crime done before 2013, which is when the FAA plans to implement laws that will allow police departments to routinely fly unmanned drones around U.S. cities. It's gonna be a lot harder to get away.
Some government agencies are already using drones for domestic purposes, like patrolling the Mexico-U.S. border. But as of 2013, police departments will have a green light to use drones to bust drug houses and chase down fleeing criminals:
By 2013, the FAA expects to have formulated new rules that would allow police across the country to routinely fly lightweight, unarmed drones up to 400 feet above the ground - high enough for them to be largely invisible eyes in the sky.
Such technology could allow police to record the activities of the public below with high-resolution, infrared and thermal-imaging cameras.
This is great in so many ways. For example, one police guy says aerial drones are the best thing to hit policing since the Taser. Tasers are awesome! Imagine the market for aerial drones for personal protection: A woman can carry a drone in her purse and send it up to monitor her surroundings with infrared if she ever feels threatened.
Plus, this opens up many intriguing possibilities for new buddy comedies. Chris Tucker and a drone fight crime while poking fun at the differences between African-American and drone culture? It's almost worth slowly transforming our country into an Orwellian dystopia.