“Flock Safety, whose drones were once reserved for police departments, is now offering them for private-sector security, the company announced today, with potential customers including businesses intent on curbing shoplifting. 

Companies in the US can now place Flock’s drone docking stations on their premises. If the company has a waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly beyond visual line of sight (these are becoming easier to get), its security team can fly the drones within a certain radius, often a few miles…

Kauffman walked through how the drone program might work in the case of retail theft: If the security team at a store like Home Depot, for example, saw shoplifters leave the store, then the drone, equipped with cameras, could be activated from its docking station on the roof.

‘The drone follows the people. The people get in a car. You click a button,’ he says, ‘and you track the vehicle with the drone, and the drone just follows the car.’

The video feed of that drone might go to the company’s security team, but it could also be automatically transmitted directly to police departments.”

From MIT Technology Review.