This article in RT is from 2012. These aren't new and it has been anticipated police would be able to use them. The drug cartels will have them before too much longer.
May 24, 2015
American police officers (click here) may soon be able to use unmanned aircraft not only for surveillance, but also for offensive action. The drones may be equipped to fire rubber rounds and tear gas....
...The US military and CIA have used drones armed with lethal weapons to target militants overseas for years. The prospect of having “lite” versions of those remotely controlled killer-machines circling over America gave some second thoughts to rights groups.
“It’s simply not appropriate to use any force, lethal or non-lethal, on a drone,” Catherine Crump, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told CBSDC.
She explained that an officer operating an armed drone from afar would simply not have the same understanding of a situation that an officer on location would have. So judgment on the use of force would be limited by this narrowness of observation....
The drone is made from materials available to the public. It is an equalizer. The government no longer has exclusive capacity of a very dangerous weapon. It is a guns rights issue. Are guns on drones legal?
May 24, 2015
American police officers (click here) may soon be able to use unmanned aircraft not only for surveillance, but also for offensive action. The drones may be equipped to fire rubber rounds and tear gas....
...The US military and CIA have used drones armed with lethal weapons to target militants overseas for years. The prospect of having “lite” versions of those remotely controlled killer-machines circling over America gave some second thoughts to rights groups.
“It’s simply not appropriate to use any force, lethal or non-lethal, on a drone,” Catherine Crump, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told CBSDC.
She explained that an officer operating an armed drone from afar would simply not have the same understanding of a situation that an officer on location would have. So judgment on the use of force would be limited by this narrowness of observation....
The drone is made from materials available to the public. It is an equalizer. The government no longer has exclusive capacity of a very dangerous weapon. It is a guns rights issue. Are guns on drones legal?
The question is should weaponized drones be used anywhere and by anyone in the USA? If police are going to be armed with these weapons that makes an increase in the militarization of police. I thought there was a movement in DC to remove the militarized status of police to increase citizens' safety. This doesn't look as though any aspect of the US is being demilitarized.
