The following is excerpted from “26 on 2026: A police leadership playbook.” Download the complete playbook here.
By DJ Smith
Whether or not your city is hosting FIFA World Cup events in 2026, two critical questions demand your attention:
- How do we protect our communities and states from malicious drone activity — whether criminal or terroristic?
- How do we accomplish this within our current limited legislative framework?
While these questions lack simple answers, there are actionable steps you can take now. The key is understanding what’s within your control and maximizing your effectiveness while waiting for legislative authority to catch up.
Start by having informed conversations about Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (CUAS) — what it is and what it isn’t — because misinformation abounds. Recognize that the tools currently available can address approximately 85% of drone-related issues, helping you narrow your focus to genuine threats.
| WATCH: Securing the skies: Protecting major events from drone threats
Five strategic actions you can take now
1. Prioritize education
Education is unquestionably the most impactful component of any CUAS program and will resolve the majority of your drone-related challenges. This education must reach three audiences: the public, legislators and law enforcement personnel.
Currently, no point-of-sale education exists to inform drone purchasers about safe and legal flight requirements in the national airspace. Consequently, most recreational pilots unknowingly violate airspace regulations and legal requirements.
Begin by training your law enforcement personnel on:
- Requirements for safe and legal flight within National Airspace.
- Basic drone operation principles to better assess potential threats.
- Legal boundaries for interacting with drone pilots.
- What drone pilots are legally required to present upon law enforcement request.
This training limits agency liability while creating opportunities for positive public education encounters.
Develop a grassroots educational campaign at the local, city, or state level that establishes a shared understanding of safe and legal national airspace flight. Just as a common operating picture of low-to-mid-level airspace is essential for security, a common understanding among all drone pilots of legal flight requirements is equally critical.
2. Leverage existing state aviation laws
The FAA classifies drones as aircraft equivalent to manned aviation. Review your state’s existing manned aviation statutes to identify opportunities for integration into drone response protocols.
For example, Virginia’s aviation code requires aircraft registration and licensed pilots, and prohibits alcohol use before flying. We’ve incorporated these provisions into our drone response procedures and developed a two-sided drone response card: one side provides officers with a guide to drone pilot interactions and possible state code violations; the other outlines response protocols for drone incursions or incidents, including public safety measures.
3. Network and engage in policy conversations
Stay informed about CUAS technology developments and current legislative efforts to expand State, Local, Tribal and Territorial (SLTT) authority. Join regional or national working groups, such as the DRONERESPONDERS National CUAS Working Group, to:
- Share lessons learned
- Amplify collective voices
- Track drone industry trends
- Develop tactics, techniques, procedures (TTPs), and concepts of operations (CONOPS) for addressing malicious drone use
As with all law enforcement challenges, early trend recognition enables proactive responses.
4. Participate in Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) initiatives
If your state is involved in Advanced Air Mobility integration, get involved. Low-to-mid-level airspace security and AAM projects require the same technology to detect, track and identify all airborne objects for deconfliction purposes.
This collaboration is especially important if you currently operate or plan to implement a Drone as First Responder (DFR) program. Both initiatives depend on airspace awareness for deconfliction, enabling safer and more extensive flight operations.
5. Advocate to your representatives
Use your collective voice when communicating with local, state and congressional representatives about necessary legislation. While drone-related challenges and solutions are universal, their scope and scale vary by region.
Every jurisdiction has unique airspace characteristics and critical infrastructure concentrations — whether government facilities, industrial bases, sports venues, or other critical assets. The solutions remain consistent; only their size, scope and deployment scale differ.
When public safety officials directly communicate these needs to their representatives, it personalizes the urgency and drives action.
Moving forward
Given the current limited legislative authority for SLTT communities to deploy meaningful detect, track and identify (DTI) technology capable of decoding all drone signals, let’s focus on what we can control: education.
By effectively educating all stakeholders about this technology, we can dramatically reduce the problem’s magnitude by establishing a common understanding of safe and legal flight in the national airspace.
About the author
DJ Smith has worked in covert technical/tactical surveillance for over 30 years and is currently a senior technical surveillance agent for the Virginia State Police. He is deputy director for DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety UAS Alliance for CUAS and has served on the Federal Aviation Administration CUAS Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC).
His extensive sUAS and counter UAS operations experience includes serving as Virginia State Police stakeholder on the Mid-Atlantic UAS Partnership group (Google Wing) at Virginia Tech for Commercial/Enterprise UAS deliveries, as IACP/ASCIA drone and CUAS policy advisor, and on the DHS Science and Technology Directorate First Responder Robotic Operational System Test (FFROST) assessment of sUAS for Public Safety. He is also licensed part 107 pilot and has been flying sUAS for over 13 years.
This is an excerpt from “26 on 2026: A police leadership playbook.” Download the complete playbook here.
