Politics
Police Push Tracking for Civilian Drones
- Ability of hobbyists to fly anonymously may soon be limited
- New rules spurred by security concerns, commercial operators
The Future of High-Powered Commercial Drones
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At a recent apartment blaze in Oakland, California, a sheriff deputy directing firefighters with a drone-mounted video camera encountered a new hazard: a civilian quad copter that buzzed onto the scene.
"It’s happened twice in the past few months," said Alameda County Deputy Sheriff Richard Hassna, the department’s chief pilot who was using the device. "We’re overhead at the scene of a fire relaying information to the command agency and a hobbyist flies right below us and parks."