Smugglers Using Drones to Smuggle Contraband into Prisons

With technology advancing at an alarming rate, the common criminal is advancing as well. New technological advances in drones are allowing criminals to use these drones to smuggle cell phones, drugs, weapons, and other illicit materials into prisons. The major problem to prisons are the cell phones and the chargers. With these cell phones, prisoners can communicate with people outside without anybody being able to monitor their call. When people get arrested, you lose the right to cell phones and other luxuries to the outside world, until your sentence is up.

This is a blog about how people are using drones to smuggle contraband into prisons, along with the other advantages and disadvantages of drones. I chose this topic, because the topic interests me. I have a neighbor who flies drones, and when I first saw it, I thought they were awesome. I believe drones will be a major advantage to us in the future, but not without many risks that come along with it. 

Drones

I started this blog and my research on drones smuggling contraband into prisons, but it started to branch off topic as I went along. Not only are drones helping inmates, but they have the ability to ruin our personal privacy. I am somebody who believes that when I am in my house or on my property I have the right to privacy. These drones have a very high powered camera on them that can watch you from so far up that you would never notice them. Our military is one of the number one users of drones. They are making airstrikes and bombings possible without putting anybody in harms way. With the recent attacks from ISIS, it is very plausible to thing terrorist attacks with the use of drones is in the very near future. I chose this topic, because I would like to spread awareness about the downfalls of drones. 

What Exactly is a Drone?

This may sound like a ridiculous question, but the answer might surprise you. A drone is considered any unmanned aerial vehicle that can navigate on its own using GPS. Many of these drones are equipped with high powered cameras, crash avoidance systems, and many other high-tech settings not available on RC flying machines. For the most part, drones have four propellers, this allows the drone to steady itself and hover in mid air. Take a look at how powerful some of these cameras can be. Drone Footage

However, the bigger these drones get, the bigger the propellers get as well, and need to spin harder to get the drone off the ground. With these bigger drones comes more injuries. There are numerous stories of people losing fingers or their visions from mistakes with drones. Because drones are unmanned aircrafts they seem to fall into sort of a gray are legally. New laws are being put into place to hold the owner of the drone responsible for any damage. Here is a story from Pasadena, CA, where a drone crashed in front of a mother and her 11 month old baby. The drone crashed and pieces of debris were sent flying in the direction of the baby and mother. The baby received minor bumps and scratches, but this incident could have been a lot worse.
Drone Injures Baby

Airmail via Drones Is Vexing for Prisons

Drones are becoming a growing concern in prisons across the country. There are numerous cases of correctional officers finding drones that have crashed inside the prison walls. This is a very serious problem for officers, who do not know how to stop it. “It’s almost like we need an Iron Dome like Israel has to stop it,” Mr. Stirling said, referring to the multibillion-dollar rocket interceptor system that was used to protect Israel during its most recent conflict with Hamas. “But they have a robust defense budget.” 

The biggest concern is over the smuggling in of cell phones. With the use of outside smart phones, inmates are provided with a very valuable tool. With the phones, inmates can contact friends outside and arrange more drops with the drones.

“We’ve got to do something about this — these cellphones are killing us,” she said. Smartphones are so desirable to inmates because unlike pay phones at prisons, they are not recorded or monitored. The phones also allow them to watch pornography and communicate surreptitiously with fellow prisoners. The phones are essential for coordinating with smugglers using drones, because the prisoners need to know where to find the deliveries in the yard. The prisoners can then use the phones to quickly pay their suppliers.

Because drones are such a new area to law enforcement officers, they do not know what to do about the growing problem. There has been thoughts of putting a net over the prison or a dome, but that is very expensive, and difficult to maintain. However, there might be a solution even more advanced than the drones.

DJI, the company that manufactured the drone that crashed at the White House,announced in March that its new geofencing software would make its devices inoperable within roughly 16 miles of the White House. The company said it was working to create similar no-fly zones for “sensitive institutions and national borders.” An organization called No Fly Zone has introduced a website where individuals, business owners and others who do not want drones overhead can enter their addresses into a database. Those addresses will be provided to drone manufacturers who have agreed to program their devices not to fly over those locations.

I think this is a very serious problem. We are letting convicted criminals smuggle contraband into prisons and putting correctional officers and nearby civilians at risk. When people are convicted of a crime and sent to prison, they lose a lot their rights. One being communication with outside known felons.

Prison Contraband Via Drones

Preventative Measures

Short of building a fence over prisons and important buildings, there isn't really much to do to prevent drones entirely. However, there is a company called NoFlyZone, where you can put in your address and the company will prevent drones from flying over your property. This is all well and good, but it is only for participating drone companies, and excludes anything that someone would have made at home.

One way would be to adopt the New York MTA transit slogan, if you see something, say something. If you see a drone flying where it isn't supposed to be, alert the authorities. You never know what these drones could be carrying, or who is controlling them. If you see something, say something.


Here is a link to NoFlyZone.org if you want to check out a brief video explaining the company, or if you would like to sign up for a No Fly Zone. Remember, not all drones will be excluded, only participating drone companies: No Fly Zone

Drones, Not Just a Problem For Prisons

I started this blog researching different ways drones have been used to smuggle contraband into prisons. While I still believe that is a problem, there are other problems with drones as well. In England, a man was charged with 17 offenses of flying a drone over English Landmarks, and a soccer match. If you watch the video in the link, the drones have a high powered camera on them. This guy flew his drone over a soccer match with upwards of 100,000 people, and nobody even really noticed at the time. The amount of damage that could be done with these drones is ridiculous, especially with all of the terrible things ISIS is doing right now. An unmanned drone carrying a small package of explosives can be flown anywhere and detonated with one push of a button. Terrorists don't need to even go outside anymore.


Here is a link with the video of the soccer match. Soccer Match

Drone Usage in American Military

Here in America, the military is one of the top uses for drones. Unmanned military drones are sent into enemy territory carry missiles that are dropped from miles away. This is a very useful and safer alternative for our military, but they are also using drones in controversial ways. In 2011, President Barack Obama ordered a drone to take out American born terrorist, Anwar al-Awlaki and two other people in a car in Yemen. ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said in a statement. "As we've seen today, this is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process, and on the basis of standards and evidence that are kept secret not just from the public but from the courts." Many people have a problem with the fact that al-Awlaki did not get a fair trial, a right that every American born citizen has.

Republican Presidential candidate said, "Al-Awlaki was born here, he's an American citizen, he was never tried or charged for any crimes, to start assassinating American citizens without charges - we should think very seriously about this."

I am a little torn about this. On one hand, he was a known terrorist, and one less terrorist is always a good thing; but on the other hand, he was an American citizen and we pride ourselves on our rights, one of which being the right to a fair trial. 

Source:

U.S. drone killing of American al-Awlaki prompts legal, moral debate

Amazon Using Unmanned Drones for Delivery

Amazon claims that by the year 2018, the packages you order from Amazon, weighing under 5 lbs., will be shipped via drone to your house in as little as thirty minutes. Here is what the drones will look like:

Amazon is lucky to already have many shipping centers scattered around the country. The fleet of drones would take the place of the truck drivers and turn a one to two day shipping window into 30 minutes or less. When I first thought of the idea of drones, I immediately thought of the negatives, the first being drones running into people. Amazon says that at first the drones will be man piloted, eventually going to fully unmanned drones. The risk for harm is low, but there still is a chance that a drone could lose control and seriously hurt somebody. There are many positives as well. With this new delivery system, important things such as medicine would be able to be delivered very quickly, and that is an amazing thing. 

Amazon Use of Drones