Police in India Are Arming Drones with Pepper Spray to Disperse Crowds

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Police drones in India are going beyond serving as eyes in the sky. Now they’ll be able to shoot pepper spray at eyes from the sky.

According to the Times of India, police in the Indian city of Lucknow have purchased five drones that Police Superintendent Yashasvi Yadav said can be “used to shower pepper powder on an unruly mob in case of any trouble.

The drones will be able to fly up to 2,000 feet in the air, with a 3,000-foot radius, which should give the flying robots plenty of range to deal with crowds. One problem with the idea, as many social media commenters have pointed out, is that pepper spray is easily carried by the wind, which means that police could end up harming civilians they don’t intend to if there’s a breeze in the air. (Chicago Police: Please do not adopt this idea.)

The drones being deployed in India aren’t the first such fliers to have offensive capabilities. In 2014 a South African company called Desert Wolf began selling riot-control drones that are capable of firing paintballs at crowds to mark individuals, as well as launching pepper spray balls and plastic balls.

Those drones also include loudspeakers and strobe lights to blind unruly mobs; they have been purchased, apparently, by both police departments and private mining companies in Africa.

So far, there are no reports of U.S. police departments purchasing or using armed drones. American citizens, meanwhile, appear to be comfortable with police using drones for surveillance purposes: According to a Reuters report, a poll found that 68 percent of respondents were comfortable with police use of drones to solve crimes, while 62 percent said that police should be able to use drones to deter criminals.

If the police do get in on the weaponized drone game, we’ll be one step closer to Skynet taking over. Careful with the pepper spray, drone friends! 

via: The Times of India

Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+.