NYPD Wants Authority to Disable Drones Deemed a Threat

In 2018, Congress passed a law allowing federal law enforcement agencies to disable a drone—including shooting it down—but it would take additional federal legislation to give local law-enforcement agencies like the NYPD the same right.

The New York Police Department wants the authority to disable a drone deemed to be a potential threat to public safety, a capability it presently doesn't possess under current law.

According to the Wall Street Journal, police are concerned that propaganda abroad showing weaponized drones can inspire terrorists to use drones for lone-wolf attacks in the United States.

In 2018, Congress passed a law allowing federal law enforcement agencies to disable a drone—including shooting it down—but it would take additional federal legislation to give local law-enforcement agencies like the NYPD the same right.

Several drone events have occurred overseas, including the incursion of a suspected drone into airspace either within or immediately beside Gatwick Airport in England which led to a prolonged shutdown of flights into and out of that busy airport.

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