Hobby drones are easy to come by and they’re much cheaper now than they used to be. There are many people who don’t like the fact that it’s easy to get a drone now and intrude on someone’s privacy without much effort, that’s one of the reasons why an ammunition company is selling rounds designed for taking down drones, but drones aren’t just a threat to privacy. There are serious security concerns as well, concerns that can get a drone operator arrested when his machine gets within 50ft of a LAPD helicopter.
ABC7 in LA reports that a LAPD helicopter was derailed from its task earlier this week when a hobby drone came within 50ft of the chopper while it was attempting to locate a suspect in Hollywood.
The incident forced the police to divert its attention to catching the drone operator, which they eventually did, in a Rite Aid parking lot. The man was taken into custody for interfering with police work while his drone was confiscated. He won’t be washing his hands off this mess easily.
Not only has he been questioned by the police he will also reportedly get a visit from the Federal Aviation Administration, while a forensics lab goes through the video to ascertain whether this encounter between the drone and the chopper was done on purpose.