MOBILE, Ala. (NBC 15) — Drones dropping drugs and cell phones into Alabama’s state prisons have become a growing and dangerous problem, and lawmakers say prisons need more authority to stop them mid-air. For years, state and local officials were legally limited in what they could do when they spotted a drone flying over prison property.
“You can’t just shoot them down. You can’t just jam them. There’s laws in effect what you can and can’t do for drones., said State Rep. Matt Simpson. “So, they could see the drone, but they couldn’t shoot them down or jam them, or do anything to stop them, to capture the drones.”
Until late last year, counter-drone authority was largely reserved for the federal government. But Congress passed the Safer Skies Act, expanding limited counter-drone authority to qualified state and local law enforcement and correctional agencies. Simpson says he worked with the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) to draft legislation authorizing state prisons to take action…