Sheriff warns drones may become terrorists’ weapon of choice

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has warned the public that terrorists will turn to drones as a tool to create chaos and destruction. The news comes not long after the recent terrorist attack that took place in New Orleans and the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in Vegas.

Drones, a terrorist weapon?

In an interview with WPBF 25 News, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw shared the following, “the next point of attack will probably be the drones.”

He also warned that as more traditional targets are hardened to withstand attacks, terrorists may pivot to new tactics and target locations and objects that might have not been targeted in the past.

New protections have already been put in place by Bradshaw’s team in an around Mar-a-Lago and Trump International Golf Club. He also confirmed that the Secret Service and his local teams are already capable of taking down any drone that flies above either location.

Next on the to do list is to train more staff at hotels, agencies, rental car locations, and other customer-facing business to look out of suspicious behaviour and know what to do when they see it.

This training will be a part of a larger training program that is currently in development and will take on the name B-Pat, short for Business Partners Against Terrorism.

Bradshaw shared that often hotel staff pick up the phone and call in as they are often the ones that see suspicious activity, even something as little as their being a lot of people going in and out of a room. The Sherrif goes onto say that they’ve solved human trafficking cases as a result.

Drones aren’t all bad

While this post highlights the damage drones can cause when in the hands of the wrong people, it’s important to note drones are involved in great initiatives every day and continue to save many lives.

While drones aren’t the direct problem, its important to remain vigilant and have an idea of what’s going on around you. Looking out for suspicious activity and ensuring the right people know about it is important, potentially putting an end to an attack before it happens and saving lives.

The program is planned to start in the next few weeks, and will be an extension of ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign.