Eyes in the sky

[Racket_Man]

now possibly over your neighborhood

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...olice-agencies

now showing: Preditor drones coming to an air space near you. Just when you thought that CCTV cameras on every corner, street and business was NOT enough.

Yes another tool of law enforcement fresh from the battelfield with no fuss, no muss, no smell

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Considering how many times police helicopters have been shot at, having an unmanned drone may not be a bad idea.

Especially when you consider how much in fuel those jokers use. Why not save the real chopper for when you need an extraction of an accident victim and use the drone for following that schmuck in the High Speed Pursuit.

[Greenday]

Assuming they will be used in a legal way (Kinda doubtful, someone will eventually abuse it), I don't see the problem. No one in the US has the ability to take one of those suckers down. Even if someone did, no loss of life. No one is outrunning one.

[siead_lietrathua]

waitamin. people in the states are freaking over these drones when google earth can see in windows and people rofl at it? huh...

[Glados]

I agree, I am much more concerned with Google earth than the limited use of drones for law enforcement. According to the article the use has, so far, been within the confines that other aircraft would have been used anyway. As long as we don't begin using them to spy on regular people not involved in a crime or criminal investigation them I don't see a difference between a helicopter and an unmanned drone.

[Iseeyouthere]

An unmanned drone is still manned.
Its just more convenient. And resources that can be put towards other things... like putting those helicopter crews on rescue missions.

[lordlundar]

Umm, paranoid much?

I see them using a quieter, safer, longer lasting, easier to maintain, more resilient, etc, etc, etc replacement to manned helicopters. How is this a bad thing?

[Greenday]

An unmanned drone is still manned.
Its just more convenient. And resources that can be put towards other things... like putting those helicopter crews on rescue missions.

It's unmanned in the sense that there's no one sitting in the cockpit and no risk to life.

[bara]

It's unmanned in the sense that there's no one sitting in the cockpit and no risk to life.

At least no risk to the controller. Plenty risk to the idiot breaking the law.
I dont think this is necessarily a bad thing. It has a lot of good applications such as the previously mentioned freeing up actual pilots for rescue missions.

And folks, the great majority of technology that gets developed usually starts out as a military use then gets adapted for civilian implementation. Computers for instance are just a minor example.

[Talon]

I don't see an issue either, unless the drones are equipped with Hellfire missiles.

[Panacea]

Assuming they will be used in a legal way (Kinda doubtful, someone will eventually abuse it), I don't see the problem. No one in the US has the ability to take one of those suckers down. Even if someone did, no loss of life. No one is outrunning one.

Unless it crashes into someone's house.

waitamin. people in the states are freaking over these drones when google earth can see in windows and people rofl at it? huh...

Since when can Google Earth see into windows?

I've looked up MY house on Google Earth. It's a still shot that is three years old.

Umm, paranoid much?

I see them using a quieter, safer, longer lasting, easier to maintain, more resilient, etc, etc, etc replacement to manned helicopters. How is this a bad thing?

It might not be. If it's harder to spot from the air, it might be a useful alternative to chasing a suspect. They may slow down and drive more safely if they think they've outrun the cops. Then the cops can head them off with spike strips, or follow them to their eventual location to make an arrest more safely.

[siead_lietrathua]

Since when can Google Earth see into windows?

I've looked up MY house on Google Earth. It's a still shot that is three years old.

back when it first came out people enjoyed posting pics of the funny shit they found. one i remember best was of a woman in her apartment walking around while leaving a variety of marital aids on a table near the window.
with google maps you can zoom in on almost anything, though i think they blur faces and liscence plates still.

[protege]

I've looked up MY house on Google Earth. It's a still shot that is three years old.

Same with my place. Google Earth has a photo from 2006 or '07 up there. I've made quite a few changes since then. The stone lions (which do show up, if you look closely at the front sidewalk!) are gone, along with most of the pine trees, the yard by the street has changed, and the trim has been repainted.

As for the drones, I don't see what the big deal is. Even though I live out in the 'burbs, I have the pleasure of being buzzed by choppers every night around 8-8:30. Some of it is because I live in the county airport's flight path, but some of it includes runs to the hospital. Around here, we're used to it. We'd *gladly* take smaller, quieter drones handling traffic or recon duties.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Unless it crashes into someone's house.

And this would not be the only risk to the average civilian. Police Chases that end up with someone's car in someone else's living room, there is the now famous scene where we see a tank driving through a neighborhood destroying property and god knows how many cars, bullets flying from criminal bullets into stray homes...

There is precious little that a police officer can do that can't wind up as being a danger to the public in certain situations. The very act of confronting a criminal could end up with someone innocent of the crime getting hurt. Worrying about a predator drone crashing through a house is about as likely as a crook driving like a bat out of hell to escape the hands of the law and ending up in your bedroom.

The only difference is that if a predator crashes it will be less damaging than if one of these were to drop out of the sky.

Since when can Google Earth see into windows?

Ever since Google introduced "Street View" and started sending cars to photograph the views from a person on the street perspective.

And if anyone has an open window and the proper lighting, someone could see in and there are a number of risque shots that people find and blog about on the web.

I've looked up MY house on Google Earth. It's a still shot that is three years old.

The satellite image may be three years old since they do not keep taking photos yearly, but street view is updated on a regular basis since they now "map" the roads by using these cars on a very regular basis.

It might not be. If it's harder to spot from the air, it might be a useful alternative to chasing a suspect. They may slow down and drive more safely if they think they've outrun the cops. Then the cops can head them off with spike strips, or follow them to their eventual location to make an arrest more safely.

Bingo. Not to mention that if a predator is flying around with a spot light on, the crooks will hide from the light. They'll stay still in an area where the Forward Looking InfraRed (FLIR) can spot them and report the location to the officers.

[Hyena Dandy]

This really doesn't bother me that much. If there were actual robots that were flying around and doing this, I might be a little disturbed. But to have something that's basically an RC car with a spotlight is less disturbing.