Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina announced his plans of creating a network of surveillance drones equipped with night vision. This innovation is seen by some as a means of curbing the country’s crime problem. Others, mainly the opposition, view it as another cog in the police-state apparatus. Drones, previously used to monitor the Haitian border, soon might be hovering above the heads of Dominicans at home.

The Dominican Republic already has its history of dictatorships with the Trujillo family ruling the country for three decades. However, the current president Danilo Medina is about to bring a cyberpunk twist to his rule. Medina’s new plan involving future technologies reminds one of Robocop and 1984. Crime rose at a staggering rate during Medina’s previous term, which provides a perfect excuse to install new measures of control. Following a national grid of surveillance cameras and fingerprinting checkpoints, come night-vision drones.

The necessity of drone surveillance is first of all explained by the need to protect female citizens. President Medina has a vision of a “panic button” system to trigger the drones. It is still not known, whether this panic button will be an actual device or a smartphone app.

According to Dominican news outlet El Nuevo Diario, the plan also includes “a system for georeferencing zones with high rate of murder, street assault and robbery, which will be used to identify crime causes and possible perpetrators”. Similar techniques have been implemented by police forces around the world.

Not everyone in DR shares the government’s enthusiasm concerning the new measures. The news about additional surveillance methods has only strengthened the discontent amongst the opposition, which unanimously boycotted Medina’s inauguration.

The decision to implement modern technologies for law enforcement purposes comes as no surprise from the fastest growing economy in Latin America. However, only time will tell whether the drone patrol will actually serve the noble cause of protecting Dominican citizens or will they be used in a more Orwellian way.