Slashdot Mirror
Police Launch Drones Over LA
An anonymous reader writes "Yahoo! News is reporting that law enforcement officials have launched a new form of drone aircraft to patrol the skies above Los Angeles. From the article: 'Police say the drone, called the SkySeer, will be able to accomplish tasks too dangerous for officers and free up helicopters for other missions. "This technology could be used to find missing children, search for lost hikers, or survey a fire zone," said Commander Sid Heal, head of the Technology Exploration Project of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "The ideal outcome for us is when this technology becomes instrumental in saving lives."'"
Hopefully, the Compton School Police won't be handling the drones.
A lot of people used to whine about the traffic cameras at intersections. They would say: "Oh, it's not FAIR that these cameras can catch me breaking the law! If there aren't any cops around, I should be able to ge away with it!" But that's a terrible argument. All that has happened is that the technology has improved to allow us to better enforce laws already on the books. Just because you used to be able to get away with it, doesn't mean it wasn't breaking the law. Just because you "lucked out" and there weren't cops around, doesn't mean it wasn't wrong.
To me, having "bots" scanning public streets for criminal activities is exactly the same. Don't whine, like one commenter did, about "What if I'm doing something illegal in my back yard!!!" Just because you used to not get caught, doesn't mean it wasn't illegal! If they use it for law enforcement, it would just be using technology to better enforce laws that are already on the books. <sarcasm>How dare they!</sarcasm>
Number 1: are you really that ashamed of your own body? What are you so scared of? I think this whole country is stark (no pun intended) scared of everything. How else could we be governed so well?
Number 2: you still are innocent. Nobody is accusing of any crime whatsoever. Yes, it would be the same thing if they were polite and searched through my stuff. That would inconvenience me. First of all, I have to let some people into my home. This means I'm going to have people walking around poking and prodding at all my stuff. If you think that it isn't an inconvenience watching people poking around in your stuff, even if they're neat about it, I do have to say you have much more patience than I.
Number 3: I'll give you a fun solution. PUT YOUR FRICKEN TOP UP. If there's a simple solution to a problem, instead of crying about it, fix it. You know what you did? You caused a hassle for the police department. You had to get the captain down to your vehicle, taking him away from his duties because you think it's SO much of a hassle to put the top on your vehicle. GROW UP. The government's job isn't to kiss you on the forehead, it's job is to keep you and me safe. By wasting the law enforcement's time, you are actually infringing upon MY safety as a citizen, as well as wasting my tax money for your petty problem. If YOU left the top off your jeep, it's YOUR responsibility for what's in it. I know a guy who works construction and some of his guys throw beers in the bed of his truck when he's not looking. You know what he does? He cleans them out. He doesn't call the police captain and say "but THEY threw it in there mister, please have mercy on me!"
Number 4: Yes, the rules do exist to protect all of us. And you pulling your stunts with your jeep and murderers getting off without any jailtime because they claimed not to know their legal rights that they had every right to see beforehand (the whole Miranda v. Arizona BS) undermine their capacity. People say they want this country to be safer and that it's crooked, yet they do everything they can to make it that way.
...Which is why you use a shotgun firing flechette ammo; my 12 gauge will hit a target at 300 meters with sabot flechette ammo, perfect for shooting down anything snooping on my kids in the pool.
Since i'm in tennessee, thats not likely to be a problem; if it ever does become one, I can see myself rigging up a BB firing RC plane, with onboard video.... damn that would be cool.
and the Navy actually trained me for it. Sweet!
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
A man of middle-eastern descent walks home from work and takes a shortcut through the railyard. Now, this is illegal. We all know that. He's doing it because it saves him a 20 minute walk--no excuse, admittedly. A policeman spots him doing this. What would probably happen? The cop would watch what he does and at some point during his walk home, would pull over, pin him to the ground, and fire seven bullets in the back of his head
Fixed.
Yah, well its quite obvious what would happen once they run that background check.
UAV Operator: Looks like a middle eastern guy walking in a field.
UAV Ops Manager: Ok, lets run a background check on this guy (calls NSA)
NSA: Hold on a sec.. (calls up AT&T's "hidden room operator")
AT&T: Right, here is his web access logs for the past three months.
NSA: OMFG he googled for Bush Bobblehead dolls! (calls the FBI)
FBI: Bush bobbleheads! (calls SWAT)
SWAT: You are surrounded. Do not attempt to make fun of the president or you will be shot!
Middle Eastern Guy: WTF?
*BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*