The U.K. police are dealing with a significant upsurge in drone-related incidents as the number of these remote controlled captors and flying cameras hovers around different vicinities in the UK.The Guardian received a freedom of Information request that showed major uptake in the number of circumstances where people have reported drones flying in their local areas.
The U.K.'s Metropolitan Police Service recorded 21 drone-related incidents this year, compared to only one drone incident in 2014. Thames Valley Police Department has already logged 80 drone-associated instances in 2015, compared to 20 last year. The cases logged by Scotland Yard in the past 24 months range from distresses about the piloting of drones over crowded gatherings at a Christmas event in Hyde Park to the drones being utilized to carry illegal drugs into prison cells or to commit sexual offences.
In another circumstance, a drone was caught airborne outside the 72nd floor of a London skyscraper. Another situation logged was a caller uttered a distress that a drone to spying in their bathroom window. Concerned people also conveyed the use of drones with attached cameras near cash registers and children.
It is unlawful to hover a drone within 150 meters of a crowded area. It is also illegal to fly it around a person within 50 meters, a vehicle, or a structure in the United Kingdom.
In the United States, drones are causing more and more complications as well. The U.S. Forest Service has verified 13 incidents so far this year where hovering drones have obstructed with firefighting aircrafts.
A bill introduced last week by Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire that would make it unlawful to hover drones that would obstruct with firefighting affecting federal possessions or responding to calamities affecting foreign commerce.
The U.S. FAA is in the middle of making regulations that would allow for commercial drone voyages. Even if the FAA comes up with rules for drones, it will likely still prohibit its flights near airfields. As a matter of fact, the FAA is in test of a scheme that would detect drone pilots hovering within a five mile diameter of airports.
