U.S. World Cup Cities Are on a Counterdrone Spending Spree

The Kansas City, Mo., Police Department operates nine drones that fly to accidents and crime scenes at a moment’s notice, transmitting images back to the station.The program has operated for over a year, but, until recently, it couldn’t identify or track drones that were not its own.A $11.4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency allowed the city, which is hosting several World Cup games, to purchase sensors and radars to detect and identify private and commercial drones across the city during the matches.Previous global sporting events left behind stadiums that were later repurposed or torn down.

This year’s World Cup could leave behind something more useful: equipment that can detect, track and — if need be — neutralize hostile drones in the sky.“It will be huge,” said Maj.Gregory Williams, who oversees the operational support division at the Kansas City Police Department.

“Having this capability is going to really provide us a level of security.”Just as cheap drones have changed the calculus of war, they have also changed the way domestic law enforcement agencies protect against threats at heavily populated venues.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....