“Mischief to Mayhem”: Drones Singled Out at Australia’s Safe Cities Conference

A speaker at the Brisbane Safe Cities Conference in Australia chose to single out drones as a major threat – but it might have been to promote his organization’s anti-drone technology.

Keith Mollison, a defence contractor and product manager at Australian-based EPE, spoke at the annual Safe Cities conference on the “significant hazards to public safety” posed by drones.  “The spectrum of improper and illegal use of drones, even inadvertently, ranges from mischief to mayhem to protest, even acts of terror,” said Mollison.

In his talk, Mollison emphasized the use of drones by criminals to deliver contraband in prisons and the potential of terrorist threat from drones. “The use of drones by terrorist organisations is spreading at an alarming rate,” he said.

But while the Australian press has picked up the story in terms of the imminent danger facing citizens from drones, Mollison appears to have been presenting the case for his company’s anti-drone solution, the “Mesmer Counter.”  Mollison’s company, EPE, provides protective military and civil solutions against numerous types of threats. The Mesmer Counter is a software solution that can detect and take control of rogue drones; EPE also sells 3 different UAS solutions.

The Mesmer Counter may indeed prove a useful tool for some areas, and Mollison clearly labeled his talk with the title of the device.  But the premise that drones cause an urgent and immediate threat to cities was the point taken up immediately by a number of publications, featuring headlines like “Drones Present a Threat to Cities, Expert Warns…”

Combined with another Australian headline seen today – a light plane operator who suspects that a drone may have collided with his plane – Australia’s drone industry may have an increasing PR problem.  If cities become convinced that drones pose a real threat to citizens, Australian operators could face greater restrictions and local regulatios.