Drones - The New Police Auxilliary

Drone surveillance. It is only a matter of one year or two before drones are deployed as “eyes of the police” in troubled cities. This may be a very good thing. Drones will have a regular “beat,” just like foot police used to. Each drone will patrol specific streets. Once programmed they will need no pilot in control back at the station, just a monitor for activity. They will create video records, identify perpetrators, and probably indirectly reduce crime.

But these little city-size drones need power. What we will see in the months ahead are drone-charging stations, located high above the city streets, on tops of buildings. Drones will navigate to them automatically, charge up quickly, and be back on patrol. Sort of like a coffee-donut break. Remarkably, and this is only a guess, the charging stations will be called “nests.” Cheap and tireless, these drone-cops will become a backup for beleaguered in situ officers.

Watch carefully. The possibilities are endless. For example, they could tag and “follow” suspects. They could employ the cellphone-type modality, with one drone transfers to another as movement transfers laterally. At night, they would be effectively invisible.

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