Small commercial drone in flight (illustrative image), photo: shutterstock
Centers and shops in the United States could soon start using drones to catch thieves in stores, a private company offering them the technological solution in this regard, reports Gizmodo.
Flock Safety, a controversial supervisory company that provides drones and other technologies to police departments, has announced that it now offers its drones and private security companies.
The use of drones in the activity of the police is growing in the United States, and this movement probably makes private companies adopt the same technology soon. However, as drones become commonplace in the field of public and private security, activists to protect personal life are launching more and more warnings against their use.
“Security leaders are forced to ensure the protection of a larger perimeter, with fewer resources, narrower budgets and real staff constraints,” said Rahul Sidhu, vice-president of the Aviation Aviation Division Safety, in a press release.
The company states that each Drone docking station can cover a radius of about 5.6 kilometers, with a flight time of up to 45 minutes, “offering quick response, railway triages, hospitals, ports, malls and business centers.”
How would drones work in tandem with shops of shops
In his broader statement, Flock Safety promoted his drones especially for retail stores, arguing that the organized criminality concerning the retail trade remains high. The company cited a report of the industry according to which traders registered a 93% increase in theft incidents in 2024 and argued that the rapid reaction of drones could help reduce the associated, long -term costs.
Keith Kauffman, director of the drone program of Flock, explained for MIT Technology Review how the drones in practice could work.
When the security team of a store observes thieves leaving the place, it can activate the drone, which is docted on the roof. Equipped with video cameras and thermal cameras, the drone can watch the thieves running on the floor or with a vehicle. The video flow can be sent to the company's security team and transmitted directly to the Local Police.
But not everyone is delighted by the company's technology.
Jay Stanley, the main analyst of policies of the American Union for Civil Freedom (ACLU), has warned in recent years that the extension of the use of drones in the police and private security requires strict confidential protection measures – including clear limits and places where drones can be used and how video images are managed.
“We do not want to get to a nightmare scenario, in which the drones are used for mass surveillance, and the experience of having cameras that buzz above the head becomes a routine in people's daily lives,” Stanley wrote in a message that he recently published on his blog.
