No UAVs for Police...at Least for Now

Government Technology.com recently reported that the FAA has upheld a decision to prohibit US police forces from using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs.) Honestly, I'm very glad to hear about this decision, but I don't think that it will last for long. It's a hot issue with strong feelings on both sides.

Have no doubt: UAVs are the wave of the future and we will end up seeing them applied to many situations. We will have to share our airspace with them. They are simply too economical and flexible to go without. In truth, they would make great tools for police, fire departments, disaster relief agencies and more. While I don't mind seeing the problem being tabled for a while, I realize that we will have to find a way to share the skies with a host of unmanned aircraft. I wrote about UAVs over a year ago and many of the concerns with them are still unresolved.

One major problem is that they give law enforcement a lot of power to conduct surveillance. It would be dangerously easy to get over zealous and use these tools in a way that violates basic, legal privacy. We will have to define rules for legal searches using UAVs before police can have them.

Another major concern is airspace. Right now, lacking a good way of safely sharing airspace, the US Border Patrol simply throws up a large TFR wherever they want to fly their aircraft. This doesn't have too much impact in border areas, but it would be absolutely unacceptable for short-notice TFRs to start popping up over every municipality in the United States.

The TFRs are necessary right now because a UAV doesn't have a realistic ability to avoid other aircraft. Some are equipped with TCAS, but even that is not enough. As a military aviator with some recent combat experience I can tell you that even the best-equipped UAVs around are a serious hazard to other aircraft. It's not the pilots--the aircraft just don't have any equipment to give pilots the situational awareness needed to be safe. I don't have any good stories about getting shot at, but I have plenty of stories of UAVs obliviously putting other aircraft in danger.

For now, I am glad that police departments don't have UAVs. I base my feelings on personal experience and knowledge. Don't think we're off the hook forever though. We will need to find ways to give UAV pilots the SA to operate safely in our airspace. When we do, we can expect to see more of them around. They are simply too useful and economical for this not to happen. If you have an idea on how to solve this problem, I suggest you patent it and start pitching your product to UAV makers. You would probably end up a very wealthy person and you would be helping to keep all of us safe.