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Police Launch Drones Over LA

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the eye-in-the-sky dept.

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."'"

3 of 496 comments (clear)

  1. "If they don't catch me, I did nothing wrong!" by GregStevensCA · · Score: 1, Troll

    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>

  2. Re:Oh cool! by paganizer · · Score: 1, Troll

    ...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.
  3. Re:Pointing out the obvious by eh2o · · Score: 1, Troll

    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*