North Dakota Legalizes "Less Than Lethal" Weapon-Equipped Police Drones

Posted by timothy on Thursday August 27, 2015 @02:17AM from the brought-to-you-from-nellis-air-force-base dept.

According to the Daily Beast, writes reader schwit1, North Dakota police will be free to fire 'less than lethal' weapons from the air thanks to the influence of a pro-police lobbyist. That means beanbags, tear-gas, and Tasers, at the very least, can be brought to bear by remote. It's worth noting that "non-lethal" isn't purely true, even if that's the intent behind such technologies. From the article, based partly on FOIA requests made by MuckRock into drone use by government agencies: The bill’s stated intent was to require police to obtain a search warrant from a judge in order to use a drone to search for criminal evidence. In fact, the original draft of Representative Rick Becker’s bill would have banned all weapons on police drones. Then Bruce Burkett of the North Dakota Peace Officer’s Association was allowed by the state house committee to amend HB 1328 and limit the prohibition only to lethal weapons. “Less than lethal” weapons like rubber bullets, pepper spray, tear gas, sound cannons, and Tasers are therefore permitted on police drones.

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Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · 2015-08-27 02:44 · Score: 0, Offtopic

What about drunk child molesters stalking police children in order to murder them by running them over? Won't somebody think of the baby cops?!
Tools must always be questioned. Especially when it upsets the tools. Never let tools have more power. Then they become power tools, and they'll hurt you.