This week’s “Around the Commercial Drone Industry” news round-up looks at an innovative anti-graffiti vehicle from Aquiline Drones and legislative action around combatting rogue drones at NFL, MLB, NCAA, SEC and NASCAR events and along the Arizona border.

Congress Considers Bill to Combat Rogue Drones at Sporting Events

ESPN reports that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) have introduced a bill to Congress that would “give state and local law enforcement the ability to disable drones during sporting events.” At present, the ESPN article said, “only federal law enforcement on-site at events such as the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Rose Bowl and the Boston Marathon can disable unauthorized drones,” and “nearly all other major sporting events, including thousands of NFL and MLB games, do not have officials on-site with the legal authorization to quickly remove a drone threat.” Named “the Disabling Enemy Flight Entry and Neutralizing Suspect Equipment (DEFENSE) Act, the bill is said to have the support of the NFL, MLB, NCAA, SEC, and NASCAR.

For some perspective on drone security at large-scale events, read Why DJI's Decision to Stop Geofencing Hurts the NFL by Dedrone's Mary-Lou Smulder. 

Arizona Legislators Seek to Waive Police Liability for Shooting Border Drones

In more “drones in public safety” news, a report from Newsweek details how state lawmakers in Arizona have introduced legislation that would allow “local law enforcement agencies shoot down cartel drones suspected of trafficking drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.” The bill “would grant authorities immunity from any potential injuries resulting from taking down unmanned drones within 30 miles of the southern border.” Newsweek reports that “cartels often use drones to monitor law enforcement operations,” and “these devices help cartels evade agents and smuggle drugs into the U.S.” The proposed legislation has bipartisan support in the Arizona legislature, but some have raised concerns that police responses to these vehicles “could lead to severe injuries if drones are disabled in busy areas.”

An Anti-Graffiti Drone System from Aquiline

CT-based Aquiline Drones announced that it has developed a “highly effective technology solution that can reduce the recurrence of graffiti by a factor of 10, especially in harder-to-reach areas.” As reported in UAS Vision, the solution “blends key technologies – smart cameras, artificial intelligence (AI) and graffiti drones” to combat costly and hard-to-eradicate graffiti by providing “surveillance/monitoring, analytics, and push notification” along with “graffiti abatement using AD’s Spartacus Endure drones.” Aquiline has completed a successful test of the system with the Washington State Department of Transportation, and it is now rolling the system out to states and cities nationwide.

To learn how the Washington State Department of Transportation has been using Aquiline drones for graffiti mitigation, check out the Commercial UAV News article “Drones Tackle Graffiti in Washington State.”