North Dakota police will be free to fire "less than lethal" weapons from the air thanks to the influence of Big Drone.
It is now legal for law enforcement in North Dakota to fly drones armed with everything from Tasers to tear gas thanks to a last-minute push by a pro-police lobbyist.
With all the concern over the militarization of police in the past year, no one noticed that the state became the first in the union to allow police to equip drones with “less than lethal” weapons. House Bill 1328 wasn’t drafted that way, but then a lobbyist representing law enforcement—tight with a booming drone industry—got his hands on it.
The bill’s stated intent was to require police to obtain a search warrant from a judge in order to use a drone to search for criminal evidence. In fact, the original draft of Rep. Rick Becker’s bill would have banned all weapons on police drones.
Then Bruce Burkett of North Dakota Peace Officer’s Association was allowed by the state house committee to amend HB 1328 and limit the prohibition only to lethal weapons. “Less than lethal” weapons like rubber bullets, pepper spray, tear gas, sound cannons, and Tasers are therefore permitted on police drones.
You can read the rest @
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/26/first-state-legalizes-armed-drones-for-cops-thanks-to-a-lobbyist.html
It won't be long until every US state (and every nation) flies drones armed with lethal weapons.
There is no easy way to climb back up this slippery slope.
Update: And according to this report, such drones also soon will be autonomous:
Teaching UAVs and other robots to think for themselves is RRG's central mission. “We want UAVs to be able to operate in urban environments, to get useful things done, and interact with people,” says Roy. “We want them to become as intelligent as they need to be for the task at hand.”
You can read the rest @
http://www.techswarm.com/2015/08/the-ongoing-mission-to-teach-drones-to.html
Can you spell S-k-y-n-e-t?
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