About once a year, some Florida-based police department likes to prove it’s more dystopian than any other in the state by unveiling some new, preposterous, entirely impractical gizmo that I guess is supposed to prove that they’re on the cutting edge of technology, but fails spectacularly to do so. Last year, it was an AI-powered autonomous police vehicle that can shoot out drones. The 2026 edition of this foolishness comes in the form of a very stupid-looking quadcopter for one.
Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland has officially integrated “Astro,” a flying electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle, into its campus police department.
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According to reporting from Fox13 , the university paid nearly $150,000 for the modified Jetson ONE personal aircraft, complete with custom police decals and a tiny, hilarious light bar.…