What Are They Going to Do With a Drone in Otter Tail County?

As I reported in our news page today the Federal Aviation Administration provided the Electronic Frontier Foundation with a list of 60 organizations authorized to fly drone aircraft in domestic airspace. The list includes obvious candidates such as the Homeland Security Department (for border surveillance) and the Agriculture Department (to scope out forest fires), along with 11 local law enforcement departments.

But, why, oh why, does Otter Tail County, Minn., located 60 miles southeast of Fargo, N.D., and 178 miles northwest of Minneapolis, with a population of 57,000, need its own drone? I called and asked, but no response yet. Maybe it's to check out the fishing possibilities among the 1,048 lakes in the county.

Large city police departments, including Miami and Seattle, have FAA authorization to operate drones, but so do the cops in Gadseden, Ala., a town of 39,000 located 65 miles northeast of much larger Birmingham, which does not yet have its own drone air force.

Not for long I'm sure. The police love gear, and I predict sooner rather than later every cop shop in the country will have its own drone fleet.