Retail transactions could soon use drones to pursue thieves

As if we were not already persecuted enough, shopping centers and shops in the United States may soon be using drones to catch shopping times.

Controversial Surveillance company herd securityThe drones and other invasive technology delivered to police stations on Thursday announced that it now offers private security companies its drones.

The use of the drones in police work is on the rise, and this step is likely that private companies will soon introduce the same technology. However, as drones for public and private security, data protection representatives warn that they could push the United States closer to a surveillance state.

“Security managers are asked to protect more with less about larger footprints, closer budgets and real recruits” Press release.

The company says that each drone dock can cover a radius of approximately 3.5 miles with flight times of up to 45 minutes in order to react quickly.

In his press release, Flock Safety presented her drones especially for retail stores and argued that organized retail crime is still high. It quoted an industry report that shows that Retailers recorded an increase of 93% At shoplifts in 2024 and said that the rapid reaction of the drones could help reduce the associated costs over time. Of course, it is worth noting that the retailers’ claims were due to a shoplifting epidemic largely exposed in 2024, but that did not prevent the police authorities from doing so Shopping stroll for new toys.

Keith Kauffman, Flock’s drone program director, told The The The The With Technology Review How the drones could work in practice.

If the security team of a business discovers the shop lovers of the scene, you can activate the drone that is docked on the roof. Equipped with video and heat cameras, the drone thieves can track thieves that escape on foot or in a vehicle. His video feed can then be sent to the company’s security team and transferred directly to the local police.

Flock technology has already been used in many police stations. The license cameras were only credited this week this week Catch a suspect in El Paso and locate a missing teenager in boulder, colorado.

But not everyone is enthusiastic about the company’s technology. The city of Evanston, Illinois, ordered herd security this week 18 readers of the license plate readers uninstall readers After Foreign Minister Alexi Giannoulia had discovered that Flock had given us customs and border protection access to the reader data. And in August the Congress ceased an investigation into what A member called Flock’s “role in enabling invasive surveillance practices that endanger privacy, security and bourgeois freedom of women, immigrants and other vulnerable Americans”.

ACLU Senior Policy Analyst Jay Stanley has warned in recent years that the growing use of drones in police work and private security requires strict data protection guards, including limits when and where drones can be used and how video and other sensor data are treated.

“We do not want to end up in a nightmare scenario where drones are used for mass surveillance, and the experience that police flight cameras come to routine in the daily life of people,” Stanley recently wrote in one Blog post.