Can your local police department throw bean bags at you from a drone? They might be able to if you live in North Dakota.
The state legislature there passed a bill that was intended to restrict law enforcement's use of drones in order to protect citizens' privacy. But the watered-down version that was actually signed into law leaves the door open for some creative uses of the flying devices by state and local police.
As initially written, House Bill 1328 banned the use of drones "armed with any lethal or nonlethal weapons, including firearms, pepper spray, bean bag guns, mace, and sound-based weapons."
The version that passed, however, took out mentions of specific weapons to say only that "a law enforcement agency may not authorize the use of, including granting a permit to use, an unmanned aerial vehicle armed with any lethal weapons."
The bill was actually signed into law by the governor in April, and reportedly went into effect earlier this month. But it made headlines today due to a piece from The Daily Beast that said lobbyists for the North Dakota Peace Officer's Association (NDPOA) convinced lawmakers to change the bill text.
The NDPOA told Quartz that law enforcement was concerned because the bill required officials to get a warrant before flying a drone, something to they don't have to do if they want to use a helicopter for surveillance.
The change in bill text, meanwhile, was to take into account "future developments" surrounding drones, NDPOA told Quartz, like a SWAT team that could use a drone to deploy pepper spray.
According to The Daily Beast, the bill's Republican sponsor, Rick Becker was "not in full agreement" with the bill changes. "In my opinion there should be a nice, red line: Drones should not be weaponized. Period," he said at a March hearing.
The Bismarck Tribune reported in April that Becker tried and failed to pass a similar bill in 2013. Lawmakers were reportedly concerned that it would hurt North Dakota's chances of becoming a federal test site for drones, a designation it earned in December 2013.
Earlier that year, in fact, Popular Science reported that North Dakota wanted to become the "drone capital of America." It seems to be making headway there. According to Ars Technica, the University of North Dakota offers a bachelor's degree in "Unmanned Aircraft Systems."
Law enforcement isn't the only one interested in drones, though. Two men were arrested this week in Maryland in a plot to use drones to smuggle drugs, tobacco, and pornography into a prison. According to the Baltimore Sun, a four-rotor mini-helicopter was found in a pickup truck parked outside the Maryland state prison on Saturday; a handgun and six plastic-wrapped packages containing contraband items were also discovered. Similar attempts have also been reported in other states, including Ohio and South Carolina.
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Source: pcmag.com
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