DRONES AND THEIR CRIMINAL PILOTS

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DRONES AND THEIR CRIMINAL PILOTS
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• Drones, as we all know by now, have a multitude
  of different uses of which most are positive,
  such as providing stunning aerial video,
  monitoring wildlife, delivering parcels and aid
  packages, and even helping to assess storm damage
  or find survivors, but it seems that now, they
  are also being used for other less commendable
  purposes.
• From snooping on other peoples properties and
  their activities, to smuggling drugs over the
  walls of jails, it seems that criminals are now
  using drones to aid them in their misdemeanours.

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• Drones and how they are being used with criminal
  intent
• By spraying drones in dark colours, and covering
  their lights, unmanned aerial devices have been
  flown over the walls of prison yards at night
  time, to deliver packages of drugs and other
  contraband to criminals locked up inside.
• Legislation is in place to convict those found
  guilty of such activities and can carry
  sentences of up to 14 months depending upon the
  country it takes place in, but these are not the
  only instances of drones being used with criminal
  intent.

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• A drone forced five flights at Londons Gatwick
  airport in the UK to be diverted in recent
  months, and multiple unmanned aerial devices have
  been caught up in interrupting the work of the
  emergency services and posing a threat to
  wildlife.
• If this is a pattern set to continue, just how
  will law enforcement deal with this?
• Identifying criminal pilots
• This is often an impossible task drones are
  relatively cheap and very easy to come by, and
  almost anyone can get their hands on one. Not
  only that, but governments and law makers are
  struggling to keep up with the pace of the
  seemingly endless erroneous uses for drones.

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• It turns out that more police forces now are
  engaging with special teams of forensic drone
  detectives, whose job it is to track down those
  responsible for flying drones with criminal
  intent.
• Drone detectives
• So, how can criminal drone pilots be identified,
  particularly if only the drone is found or
  fragments of it if it crashed? Or what happens
  when the police have a potential suspect in
  custody, but no drone has been found?

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• Fingerprints and SD cards
• Drones are made up many digital elements, and
  even the devices that control them, such as
  smartphones and GPS sensors, all form part of
  that complicated digital world. But, even if you
  manage to locate the smartphone that controls the
  drone, each device uses a different operating
  system, so those responsible for analysing the
  data will need to be up to speed with each
  varying system.
• Devices recovered from crime scenes such as
  penitentiaries,can be analysed for flight log
  data and even DNA and fingerprints on them the
  sharpness of the rotors on many drones are quite
  sharp, often retaining traces of skin cells.

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• SD cards are invaluable when found, since they
  may hold incriminating video evidence, and even
  batteries may retain fingerprints from when they
  were inserted.
• The future of drone crime
• Unfortunately, experts believe that the
  possibilities for drones being used in criminal
  ways, is limitless, and that we are only just
  beginning to see the ways in which they can be
  used to commit such atrocities as terrorist
  attacks, for example. This means that identifying
  the pilots of these devices, is ever more vital
  and urgent.

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• With unmanned aerial devices becoming more
  popular and more widely available and as
  technology advances the ways in which drones
  may be used to commit crimes or aid in
  atrocities, is only going to increase.
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