[larrys]

"I think you need to make a convincing argument that vandalism will be a problem."

I think if the people having shoot outs are so brazen that they can do this and people aren't necessarily reporting them it's not a stretch to think that they will, just for fun, attempt to shoot down a UAV. Wearing a mask or course to protect their identity. Or try to damage it while it sits up on the pole with a rock etc. (Although I guess it could be protected from that fairly easily).

[Jach]

I don't know what thugs do for fun. I don't see why shooting a UAV would be any more fun or wise than taking an axe or chainsaw to a telephone pole to cut the power of a block you intend to commit a crime in. (Plus if you know what the UAVs are for, you know that your shooting will be heard and police can have a very short response time just from that. Add in redundant UAVs that fly higher and faster, you're not getting away.)

Another form of protection: they'd be less likely to shoot at something that shoots back. (Good luck making that legal for a private company though, even if the UAV managed 99% non-lethal accuracy!)

I think UAVs are impractical for other reasons (why not just put cameras everywhere instead of a fewer number of mobile cameras?), but I still don't think they'd be that much more a target for destruction than the electrical grid.

[larrys]

"I don't see why shooting a UAV would be any more fun "

Doesn't have to be the thug shooting it down. Can be a pain in the ass bystander in the hood or someone with a baseball or rock. Have you ever seen kids who throw sneakers up over electrical pole wires in the inner city?

"they'd be less likely to shoot at something that shoots back."

Absolutely positively not going to happen.

[JabavuAdams]

Huh. I'm pretty sure that shooting down a UAV would be fun, and I'm not even a criminal.

I know of army units that have a machine-gun-the-RC-planes day for fun.

[politician]

> If you know what the UAVs are for, you know that your shooting will be heard..

If only there was a device which could be affixed to the barrel of a pistol which could reduce the decibel level associated with the firing process... ;)

[jsprinkles]

Assuming these people did add UAV monitoring (a leap), and assuming a UAV was dispatched to every report of gunfire (another leap), it doesn't matter if the assailants shoot it down because they already know where the gunshot was and, with a decent response time (another leap), officers can be there in minutes.