AI drones are America’s newest cops

https://www.axios.com/2025/10/11/police-departments-ai-drone-technology-overdoses

8 Comments

  1. “Some 1,500 police and sheriff’s departments were flying drones by late 2024 — a 150% jump since 2018, per [Police1.com](http://Police1.com), a law enforcement news site. Almost every major metropolitan area in the U.S. has a law enforcement agency with a drone system.

    Police deploy drones for surveillance, search and rescue, incident documentation, and crime scene investigations — giving them real-time aerial views and data.

    Drones are powered with AI and equipped with cameras and sensors, which means they can interpret footage and act on it.”

  2. NinjaLanternShark on

    > It claims that, after drone flights, residents have received citations about code violations and warnings about too many hemp plants on properties.

    I’m not trying to be a bootlicker here, but I’m asking — what argument can be made to keep police from acting on illegal activity that’s observed from the air? Is it an illegal search?

    To “protect” yourself from such an illegal search on the ground means you’re required to erect a privacy fence. Without that fence, cops rolling by seeing illegal activity can act on it.

    Is there some kind of “reasonable expectation of privacy” that means what’s visible from above should be private? That seems like a fluid expectation. What if hobbyist drones become super-commonplace?

    I have zero argument to make here. I’m just wondering aloud if privacy and search laws can and/or should be changed.

  3. Seeing as I got tazed for trying to dial 911 *by a human*, I take comfort in knowing a drone likely won’t shoot me for trying to call for help

  4. I see a future where ai cop drones auto deploy from elevated charging stations that 24/7 patrol most roads and freeways issuing tickets – well at least until all our transportation is just ai cabs and buses