When you look at common tropes of dystopian science fiction, one of the most common tends to be legions of heavily armed and armored police acting as the heavy hand of the state. They’re going to carry out their twisted brand of justice and God help anyone who gets in the way.
In these same stories, those police forces are sometimes supplemented by machines used to aid them in their work. So with the proliferation of drones within the past few years, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that life is imitating art.
There has been a lot of talk recently about the militarization of police departments, particularly their use of drones, and that kind of talk has recently taken new avenues in North Dakota.
Why?
Because the state recently made it legal for its police forces there to arm drones with non-lethal weapons.
House Bill 1328
House Bill 1328 was introduced by Republican Representative Rick Becker with the original purpose of dictating what an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) could and couldn’t do within the confines of the law.
Among the proposed limits, the bill wanted to make it so that a UAS couldn’t be armed in any way. Representative Becker worried about the depersonalized nature of the of use armed drones for law enforcement, stating…
“When you’re not on the ground, and you’re making decisions, you’re sort of separate.”
It’s the same argument made by people who oppose the use of drones against suspected terrorists overseas, but Representative Becker’s fears were brushed aside in favor of drones armed with weapons that are deemed “less than lethal.”
These can include deterrents like rubber bullets, pepper spray, Tasers, and tear gas, among others.
Previously, the drones in question were only equipped with cameras and were able to be used without warrants. The bill requires that drone use now come with a warrant, a provision that was able to stand in exchange for conceding to non-lethal weaponization.
So why did things change?
The Power of the Lobby
Before being signed into law, a representative of the North Dakota Peace Officer’s Association was allowed to amend the bill to change the language regarding weapons by the state house committee, but it could be said that many other forces helped in the matter.
According to the original article in the Daily Beast, people representing vested interests in the implementation of drones throughout the state all spoke out. These included the founder of a drone company, the director of University of North Dakota’s drone major program, and the vice president of an economic development group, among others. The argument was made that placing limits on what could be done with drones might restrict commercial and law enforcement development, thus making drone manufacturers hesitant to invest in the state.
Beyond that, a number of other factors helped justify the change in this legislation until it catered to private interests:
- Op-eds in local newspapers written by Al Frazier, a Grand Forks County deputy sheriff and drone pilot.
- A compliance committee ostensibly formed to ensure police drone use is kept in check, though the committee has no legal authority. Its membership includes law enforcement professionals, private sector drone company representatives, and representatives from the University of North Dakota which, as stated, has its own four-year drone program.
- The establishment of Grand Sky, a research and development facility established to give private companies access to some of the facilities used by the United States Air Force, which has a base nearby. The companies have a tax credit incentive to apply to be tenants for research and manufacturing purposes.
Drones just may be the next big industry to thrive in North Dakota, a state hit harder than most by the recent troubles related to oil prices. The fact that those drones are now armed and, in theory, can be used against anyone at anytime by officers who are nowhere near the scene is just the cost of doing business.
And, like most instances that see an increase in the power of local law enforcement, claims of finding “bad guys” and keeping the public safe from menaces like cattle rustlers are used to top it all off.
Keep your eyes open,
Ryan Stancil
