A thin hum cuts through the air above Santa Monica. It's not a seagull, it's not a plane, it's... a police drone. While beachgoers enjoy the sun, an electronic eye peers down from above, ready to catch any suspicious movement. Welcome to the future of public safety, where crime has no place to hide and privacy… well, that's another story.
When the sky becomes a policeman
Imagine being at the seaside, lying beautifully on the sand, maybe you're thinking of doing a little theft in the car... and poof! A drone catches you red-handed. This is exactly what happened in Santa Monica on July 6th. One guy thought he was being smart, but he didn't count on the flying eyes of the police drones. I'm not talking about Minority Report. This is the present, raw and naked like a freshly caught lobster. Police drones are here, and they're changing the rules of the game.
I'll report to you: the drone that didn't want to return
Think about it: this drone was returning to base after a call. But instead of going straight home like a good little robot, he decided to take a scenic tour of the pier and the parking lots. And lo and behold, he caught a guy fiddling with a screwdriver around a car. Coincidences? I do not think so.
The pilot observed a male subject wandering around the parking lot acting suspiciously.
Da a statement of the Santa Monica Police, USA
Translation: The drone saw a guy acting like he had just stolen cookies from grandma's kitchen. And our “criminal mastermind” wasn't satisfied with just one car. No, he really had to force two. And the drone? There to film everything, as if he were a documentary maker. And now comes the best part. The drone pilot leading the agents as if they were playing hide and seek. A lot of fun, and it suits the scoundrel! Except that we are (also) talking about mass surveillance.
Police drones: the heroes no one asked for?
Now, don't get me wrong. Catching criminals is great. But there is something disturbing about all this. I always underline this to you, even when sensational news arrives electromagnetic weapons to stop cars remotely. The Santa Monica police has been using these drones since 2021, and they call them “Drone as a First Responder”. Sounds like the title of a dystopian movie, doesn't it? They've already got it house thieves and attackers. Efficient? Certain. Orwellian? Well, I'll leave the judgment up to you.
Certainly, theAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), always on the ball when it comes to civil liberties, he raised more than one eyebrow. Basically the message was more or less “Hey, people, wake up before you find yourself in Orwell's '1984'”. In form, however (we are always in the country where vending machines sell ammunition) there is more moderation:
It is important that we do not fall asleep in a world of widespread aerial surveillance, that communities think carefully about whether they want drone surveillance, and, if they decide to allow some operations, put in place guardrails that will prevent those operations from expanding.
ACLU statement.
An electrifying prospect
And if you think drones watching you aren't scary enough, wait until you hear this: Axon, the company that makes Tasers (we talked about it here), has acquired the Dedrone, a company that produces these stubborn aircraft. The politician Troy Nehls, a Republican from Texas, openly stated during a US Congressional hearing that he supports the idea of put tasers on drones. Why limit yourself to surveillance when you can also electrify, right? Drones + tasers. What could possibly go wrong?
Police drones
So, here we are. In a world where police drones fly over our heads, ready to capture our every movement. Efficiency or dystopia? Security or invasion of privacy? The truth is that we are walking a thin line. On the one hand, who wouldn't want to live in a safer city? On the other hand, who wants to feel like they're constantly being watched? The future has arrived, my friends. And it's flying, electric and potentially very, very intrusive. As drones continue to buzz overhead, perhaps we should all look up at the sky. Not out of fear of being caught doing something illegal, but to ask ourselves: is this the world we want to live in?
Ultimately, as a commenter on Facebook reminded us when we showed the video, technology is just a tool. It's up to us to decide how to use it. And as police drones continue to fly over our cities, perhaps it's time to have a serious conversation about where to draw the line between safety and freedom. Because if we don't do it, someone else might. And that “someone else” could be a flying algorithm with a taser.
