
New technology breeds new crimes. Bonnie and Clyde made their getaways on wheels instead of horseback. Drones drop razor blades, cell phones, and marijuana into prison yards.
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are probably the first time so many drones have been deployed so quickly. Having decided to grant any reasonable request, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved 137 flights related to Harvey and 132 Irma flights, some within minutes of receipt.
Florida Power & Light Co., which can access some customers only by boat, contracted with vendors before the storm. Forty-nine drone teams assessed damage throughout the utility's 27,650-square-mile service area, sometimes within an hour of winds dying down. Ditto county emergency management officials looking for road, bridge, underpass, and water treatment plant damage that required immediate repair.
Drones complicate life, but state and local officials are working with each other and the federal government to resolve public safety and privacy challenges. FAA, for example, has been working with large airports to test systems that detect unauthorized drones. The agency also provides free maps that show the maximum altitudes around airports where Part 107-certified operators can fly a drone, a concept a Public Works reader helpfully explains here. I got the graphic for this article from the No Drone Zone toolkit (free). What do you think about drones: boon or bust?