Police Agencies Push Congress for Counter-Drone Powers

Law enforcement groups ask Congress for counter-UAS authority

By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill

In a recent open letter to congressional leaders, a coalition of 16 law enforcement and corrections agencies is asking lawmakers to give state and large municipal police agencies the authority to conduct counter-UAS operations, including bringing down drones electronically.

“State and local law enforcement and corrections agencies should be granted authority to detect, track, identify and mitigate drones that threaten public safety,” states the letter. The coalition sent the document to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer.

The coalition members urged Congress “to establish a comprehensive, permanent counter-UAS framework that empowers trained local and state public safety personnel to detect, track and when necessary, safely mitigate unlawful drone activity.”

Currently, a number of bills are pending before Congress to give state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement agencies greater authority to detect, identify and in some cases mitigate drones that are operating in ways that threaten public safety and security. Under federal law and FAA regulations, only a handful of federal law enforcement and national security agencies currently have such authority.

In recent years, concerns have been growing among non-federal law enforcement and corrections agencies about the increasing potential threats from UAVs operated in an unsafe manner, either by careless or clueless pilots or by those wishing to use drones for nefarious purposes.

“We’re starting to get a little concerned about the use of drones at public events by private citizens or groups or individuals,” Louis Grever, executive director of the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies (ASCIA), one of the letter’s signatories, said in an interview.

“We believe that state agencies probably need some authority that if we see a risky situation or a dangerous situation developing, we would be able to try to counteract the flight or counter that drone,” Grever said.

The letter cites a number of incidents that reflect the growing threat that drones can pose to public safety, including UAVs interfering with manned aircraft responding to disaster situations in the Los Angeles wildfires and the Independence Day floods in the Texas Hill Country.

“Law enforcement tactical operations have been surveilled and disrupted. Correctional facilities are inundated with drone drops of drugs, weapons and cell phones-allowing inmates to coordinate criminal activity beyond the walls in our communities,” the letter states.

It also observes that law enforcement agencies across the country “are preparing for an elevated threat environment around the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the America 250 celebrations and the 2028 Olympic Games.” It notes that these events are expected to attract millions of attendees across multiple jurisdictions and pose a tempting target for the criminal use of drones.

“Relying on a limited number of pilot programs or exclusive federal capabilities will not be enough. State and local law enforcement and corrections must be part of a unified national response, equipped with the authorities, tools and training to act decisively and safely.”

Grever said that with the growing number of drones, and with their increased capabilities to carry payloads and to be operated by a pilot who can remain out of sight, today’s threat of UAV mischief goes far beyond the resources of the federal agencies — including those within the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Justice — to deal with.

“Right now, we do not have that authority that is invested entirely in the federal government. Although we have a good working relationship with our federal partners, the Federal Air Marshals, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, those agencies can’t be everywhere all at once,” he said. “We’re advocating for the delegation of some of those authorities with certain controls and constraints, to be delegated down to allow state agencies to execute counter-drone activities if we have to.”

In addition to giving additional authority to state agencies to conduct counter-drone measures, Grever said large municipal police agencies should also be given similar powers.

“We don’t actually think it should be a free-for-all amongst all agencies to have some degree of authority,” he said. “There might be a need for larger police agencies or police agencies that have the sophistication.”

He said Congress should set the boundaries as to which police agencies qualify for the addition authorities. “There might be an application process, some training, some certification required, maybe controls on the equipment that might be purchased. We certainly invite those kinds of limitations, but our challenge right now is we have no authority,” he said.

The coalition of agencies that penned the letter is not advocating that state and local law enforcement be given the power to use kinetic measures — such as bullets, nets or killer drones — to bring down problematic UAVs, although such measures could be warranted in extreme cases.

“Principally we were looking for electronic measures at this time. We believe that there exists counter-drone technology that is designed just to either interrupt or disable the command or control link between an operator and a drone,” he said. Such non-kinetic mitigation techniques could “cause the drone either to lose its position or to land safely, or to just stop operating and when it’s in a safe area where it can come down.”

The only rare cases in which any police agency might be allowed to use kinetic anti-UAV measures might include a drone known to be carrying an explosive payload flying toward a sports stadium packed with people, Grever said.

“But that introduces an entirely different danger if you’re actually shooting something at a drone,” he added.

Grever said the coalition members are not currently advocating for a particular piece of drone-related legislation.

“In our advocacy we don’t want to necessarily get behind a specific bill until we see all of the language.  But we just think the time is now for legislation to be proposed and to be to debated,” he said.  “We really just need Congress actually to start taking this up.”

In addition to ASCIA, other signatory agencies to the letter include: the American Correctional Association, the Correctional Leaders Association, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the Major County Sheriffs of America, the National Alliance of State Drug Enforcement Agencies, the National Association of Police Organizations, the National Fusion Center Association, the National High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Directors Association, the National Homeland Security Association, the National Narcotic Officers’ Associations’ Coalition, the National Real Time Crime Center Association, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Sergeants Benevolent Association NYPD and the Small and Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association.

Read more:

• Congressional Hearing, Part 2: Counter Drone Experts Urge Decentralized Innovation, Collaboration
• AUVSI Drone and AAM Policy Symposium Keynote: Call for Action on BVLOS and National Leadership
• Counter UAS Update, From the Floor of National Public Safety UAS Conference

Jim Magill is a Houston-based writer with almost a quarter-century of experience covering technical and economic developments in the oil and gas industry. After retiring in December 2019 as a senior editor with S&P Global Platts, Jim began writing about emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robots and drones, and the ways in which they’re contributing to our society. In addition to DroneLife, Jim is a contributor to Forbes.com and his work has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, U.S. News & World Report, and Unmanned Systems, a publication of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.