The Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Department of Homeland Security recently identified drones, as one of the leading threats to national security. Drones are rated as a severe threat in crimes like critical infrastructure hacks, terrorism, and more. Even though drones are perceived by most people as harmless toys, law enforcement agencies are increasingly becoming concerned about the threat drones pose when they fall into the hands of bad guys.

It is already common practice that drug cartels and crime organizations are using drones. One reason is that drones are readily available for anyone to buy. Fortunately, some of the incidents that were heavily publicized in recent years mainly involve drones that were flown by inexperienced operators who ended up losing control and therefore failing to complete their mission. However, law enforcement and military officers are already dealing with cases where drones have been successfully used for illegal purposes.

Port officers and Border Patrol agents have to deal with an increased number of illegal drones. On the US-Mexico border, criminals are already using drones to spy on law enforcement operations as well as smuggle contraband. The first drug smuggling incident via drones was reported back in 2015. Now cases such as these are being reported on a daily basis in some areas and law enforcement agencies currently are unable to do much about it. Human smuggling organizations are also using drones to spy on ports of entry where field officers screen tractor-trailer trucks and passenger vehicles entering the country. The drones easily patrol the area to find a gap in enforcement, notifying where and when the smugglers can cross the borders.

Fighting drones has proven to be a difficult task. This is because it’s not always possible to shoot down a drone since falling bullets poses a huge threat to anyone underneath. The FAA has a bill on the table in the Senate which is supposed to bring some form of law and order in the drone industry. This bill will be especially geared to overseeing who can own a drone, the process of registering one, and the places where people are allowed to fly them. However, there are still concerns that the bill may never turn into law as the telecommunications industry, which is one of the largest donors for most politicians, is completely against it. However, a lot of researchers continue to work on various anti-drone systems with the hope that one day they will help save lives or stop a crime.

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