Arizona lawmakers want to let police shoot down drug-smuggling drones

State lawmakers are looking to immunize police officers who disable drones they suspect are being used for drug smuggling.

Or, as Attorney General Kris Mayes put it Monday, "blow them out of the sky.''

Rep. David Marshall said his HB 2733 "will give law enforcement a critical tool that will help combat cartels and secure our southern border."

The Snowflake Republican said criminals are using the drones not only to surveil police but to actually transport fentanyl and other drugs from Mexico deep into Arizona, avoiding having to try to smuggle them across the border themselves.

Mayes, a supporter of the measure, said what it seeks is not unusual. She said the Border Patrol already has technology to bring down the drones electronically.

But the attorney general said it's not enough.

"In a perfect world, the president and the prior presidents would have hired enough Border Patrol and have enough drone jammers to do this through the federal government,'' Mayes said. "But they are not doing this right now.''

The proposal, unveiled at a press conference, drew a series of questions about the extent of the ability of law enforcement to fire the weapons into the air without having to worry they will wind up in court, not just for damaging the drone but also for injuring someone on the ground.

Marshall said he's not worried that some innocent person is going to be harmed.

"Think about this: You're out in the desert 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock at night on the border,'' he said. "What are you doing there?," Marshall said. "There's nothing good happening on the border at midnight."

He said it is absolutely necessary to "support law enforcement doing what they need to stop the narcotics and the poison of fentanyl coming across our border.''

"If the drones are flying near the border, they're not children out there doing this,'' Marshall said.

"What are you out there looking for? Tortoises?'' he asked. "Cactuses? No,'' he continued. "Most likely its going to be drones with narcotics on it.''

But the legislation does not just cover the border.

As crafted, it would provide permission to disable drones anywhere up to 30 miles from the border, though there is a proposal to scale that back to 15 miles.

And Mayes said she's not concerned that the zone where drones can be electronically disabled or shot out of the sky includes some urban areas.

"I believe in and trust in our law enforcement to do the right thing and to shoot these drones down in an appropriate location'' she said. Ditto, the attorney general said, about having police fire bullets into the air in an effort to bring one of these things down.

The measure drew support from Chris Hines, chief of the Sierra Vista Police Department.

"This bill will empower us in local law enforcement to do more and protect our communities, to be proactive with drones,'' he said, especially when they "get in the hands of the wrong people.''

Mayes said there are lots of reasons that police would have "reasonable suspicion'' -- the standard to let them be brought down without fear of lawsuit -- that the drones are being used for nefarious purposes.
Some of it, she said, is that many of the drones are being flown at night.

There's also the fact that those actually carrying drugs would clearly have a package attached underneath. Mayes said the drone operators have the packages dropped in the desert and then notify others working with them of the specific GPS location where they can be picked up.

And then there's the issue that these are far more sophisticated than the typical toys used by amateurs, capable, she said, of flying up to 70 miles into the state.

Still, Mayes acknowledged after the press conference that criminals aren't the only ones using more drones that are more technologically advanced than one might pick up at a department store. Media outlets also use them -- and have broadcast images from drones flying along the border.

"Maybe there's too many drones along the border that are not law enforcement,'' she said.