Highlights
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Increasing threats – Expect weaponized drones to appear in U.S. criminal or cartel operations, possibly in border states or urban areas.
Preparedness gap – Many police departments lack counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems equipment and legal authority to respond, compounded by federal-state restrictions.
Technology catch‑up required – Enhanced detection systems, jamming, counter-drone drones, and updated policies will be necessary to keep officers safe.
Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Produced successful state anti-crime media campaigns.
Thirty-five years of directing award-winning (50+) public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed thousands of times by every national news outlet, often with a focus on crime statistics and research. Created the first state and federal podcasting series. Produced a unique and emulated style of government proactive public relations.
Certificate of Advanced Study-The Johns Hopkins University.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional bookstores.
Crime in America.Net-“Trusted Crime Data, Made Clear.”
Quoted by The Associated Press, USA Today, A&E Television, the nationally syndicated Armstrong Williams Television Show (27 times), Department of Justice documents, US Supreme Court briefs, C-SPAN, the National Institute of Health, college and university online libraries, multiple books and journal articles, The Huffington Post, JAMA, The National Institute of Corrections, The Office of Juvenile Justice And Delinquency Prevention, The Bureau of Justice Assistance, Gartner Consulting, The Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center, The Marshall Project, The Heritage Foundation via Congressional testimony, Law Enforcement Today, Law Officer.Com, Blue Magazine, Corections.Com, Prison Legal News, The Hill (newspaper of Congress), the Journal of Offender Monitoring, Inside Edition Television, Yomiuri Shimbun (Asia’s largest newspaper), LeFigaro (France’s oldest newspaper), Oxygen and allied publications, Forbes, Newsweek, The Economist, The Toronto Sun, Homeland Security Digital Library, The ABA Journal, The Daily Express (UK) The Harvard Political Review, The Millennial Source, The Federalist Society, Lifewire, The Beccaria Portal On Crime (Europe), The European Journal of Criminology, American Focus and many additional publications.
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Note
As I publish this article, two firefighters were ambushed and killed while responding to an arson brush fire in Idaho. A member of the legislature and her husband gunned down by an assassin were buried in Minnesota.
Article
I worked as a senior security specialist for the US Congress decades ago, holding a top-secret security clearance before transitioning back to media relations for a federal criminal justice agency.
What was their big concern? Drones. This was years before drones or remote controlled aircraft became part of our mainstream life. You could access a rooftop in Washington, D.C., and send a drone flying with an attached payload in seconds.
Weaponizing drones is easy, as anyone following the Russian invasion of Ukraine can attest.
Latin America Has A Drone Problem
“In March 2025, a Colombian soldier in Catatumbo was killed in a strike by a weaponized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), launched by the National Liberation Army (ELN) terrorist group, in major combat operations that have killed more than 80 persons in the region and displaced at least 50,000. The month before, Mexican General Jorge Alejandro Gutiérrez was almost killed in a drone attack in Chihuahua, Mexico, when the convoy he was traveling in was attacked by a UAV targeting the specific vehicle he was traveling in.”
“In September 2024, a drone carrying 40 pounds of explosives was sent against Ecuador’s maximum security prison La Roca near Guayaquil, significantly damaging the roof when it exploded, in an apparent attempt to break prisoners out of the facility. During the November 2024 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in Lima Peru, bringing together heads of state and other leaders from 21 states including China’s president Xi Jinping, Peruvian authorities neutralized 35 different potential drone threats.”
If it’s happening in South or Central America, it’s a hop, skip, and jump to bring this strategy to America. It’s going to happen. The only question is our level of preparation.
Police Are Adding Weapons To Drones
ABC News: Police in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas unveiled a fleet of armed drones Tuesday that they say will better position them against the heavily armed drug cartels vying for control of their border with Guatemala.
What’s Happening With Drones Will Become An American Issue
The days when America was shocked by domestic criminals using high-powered weapons are long over. Police agencies had to play catch-up in the types of weapons they carry and the training they provide. The discussion of cops as warriors or peacemakers is over in this day of mass and school shootings.
Today’s police officers are expected to be fully equipped to go into battle and risk their lives immediately.
The average mass or school shooter is often better armed and equipped than most cops.
So why wouldn’t this rush to better weapons and training apply to drones? If the Russians are using shotguns in their invasion of Ukraine to shoot down drones, when will we start supplying shotguns to every police officer to defend themselves in a barricade situation or mass shooting?
When will criminals start using drones to shoot police officers at the scene of a hostage situation or when they are being sought by law enforcement? When will the suicide by cop defendant kill others and wait for the police to arrive with a weaponized drone?
It’s simply a matter of time before weaponized drone-related problems come here. These international examples make it clear: the threat is not theoretical. It’s inevitable.
Domestic & Transnational Criminal Use Of Drones
Mexico – Jalisco Cartel: Drone Bomb Injures Police
Forbes: In April 2021, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel deployed a drone loaded with explosives against Mexican federal police, injuring two officers—a clear precedent of organized crime using weaponized drones.
U.S.–Mexico border – Cartels Plan Drone Kamikaze Attacks
NY Post: An internal memo from February 1, 2025, warned that Mexican drug cartels had authorized explosive-laden kamikaze drones targeting U.S. Border Patrol and military personnel, highlighting a direct threat to law enforcement.
Myanmar – Drone Bombing Kills Police Officers
Associated Press: In 2023, a resistance group (PDF) used drones to bomb a police headquarters in Myawaddy, Myanmar. At least five officers were killed or injured, with high-ranking officers among the casualties.
Ireland – Pipe Bomb–Carrying Drone Targets Police
The Times UK: In May 2025 in Finglas, Dublin, a drone carrying a viable pipe bomb crashed near a residential home. Although it failed to detonate properly, it marked a significant escalation from smuggling into weaponization—crimes viewed as targeting police (Gardaí).
U.S. – FBI Raid Disrupted By Drone Surveillance
DefenseOne: In 2018, during an FBI hostage rescue operation in the U.S., gang members flew drones to surveil and livestream agents—and to warn suspects—complicating law enforcement efforts. It represents a novel tactic to obstruct police operations.
Latin America – Smuggling and ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance)
DefenseOne: In 2024, Latin American criminal organizations used drones to monitor police and border-patrol movements, identifying patrol gaps to exploit for smuggling operations.
White Supremacist Drone Plot Targeting Energy Infrastructure
InsightCrime: In November 2024, Skyler Philippi, a 24‑year‑old accelerationist extremist from Columbia, Tennessee, was arrested for plotting to attack an electrical substation near Nashville using an explosives-laden drone—classified as a weapon of mass destruction. The FBI disrupted the plan just before it was set into motion.
An Extremist Attack Plot With Drone Surveillance
US Sun: In May 2025, Anmar Abdulmajid‑Mohamed Said, a former Michigan National Guardsman, used a drone for reconnaissance in preparation for an ISIS-inspired mass shooting at a U.S. military base (TACOM) in Warren, Michigan. He was arrested mid-flight as he launched the drone.
Felon Controlling Drone Near Interstate During Weapon Arrests
CT Insider: In April 2025, Connecticut police encountered a drone hovered over near I‑84 in Southbury. The operator, Karl Crozier—an armed, convicted felon—was arrested along with another man after they were found with firearms, cash, and drug paraphernalia.
Why This Matters
Escalation in capability: What began as surveillance or contraband delivery has evolved toward explosive payloads and targeted attacks.
Law enforcement vulnerability: Police globally—from U.S. Border Patrol to European forces—are now being proactively targeted.
Precedents exist: These aren’t hypothetical scenarios—they’re happening now in multiple regions and contexts.
Think about what could happen to a city if a maximum security prison facility was bombed by drones and walls were breached. It would create a panic requiring hundreds of police officers to respond. I guess that most US prison systems are one hundred percent focused on what’s happening on the inside of a prison perimeter. There’s little focus on an outside force or the capacity to shoot down drones.
The Outlook for U.S. Policing
Increasing threats – Expect weaponized drones to appear in U.S. criminal or cartel operations, possibly in border states or urban areas.
Preparedness gap – Many police departments lack counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems equipment and legal authority to respond, compounded by federal-state restrictions.
Technology catch‑up required – Enhanced detection systems, jamming, counter-drone drones, and updated policies will be necessary to keep officers safe.
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