US Department of Homeland Security Looking For a Few Good Drones

coondoggie writes "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security this week issued a call for unmanned systems makers to participate in a program that will ultimately determine their safety and performance for use in first responder, law enforcement and border security situations. In a twist that will certainly raise some eyebrows, the results of the program — called the Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety (RAPS) — will remain unavailable to the public, which, considering how involved the actual public may be with these drones is unfortunate."

Comments

RoboCop?

[jenningsthecat]

Can't be much more than a decade away, at this rate...

Re:RoboCop?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Can't be much more than a decade away, at this rate...

The very idea! If you'll remember, Robocop was the internally-disliked less profitable alternative to the dual use ED-209, and was even nominally under the jurisdiction of a civilian police force that he ends up saving from privatization... He even uses nonlethal force once or twice.

I, um, don't think that's exactly the trajectory that our use of attack robots is on.

Re:RoboCop?

[davester666]

They are just looking to hire more drones to replace the ones they fire for stealing peoples stuff or transporting/letting contraband go through security checkpoints.

Of course, they only get fairly stupid people that don't understand that being called a 'drone' is an insult applying for jobs.

Re:Didn't read the summary

[fisted]

Dude, i didn't even /comment/ the story. wait.

I'll probably be dead before they get too popular.

[AndyKron]

The best thing about all this is I'll probably be dead from old age before they get too popular. Is this really what We the People want? I sure as fuck don't.

A better acronym

[Anonymous Coward]

Robotic Aircraft for the Public's Enhanced Safety (RAPES). Just like these agencies do to civil liberties.

Re:A better acronym

[Penurious Penguin]

Remotely Assisted Police State

Re:A better acronym

[Penurious Penguin]

Have another acronym in the meantime: Ratified Automaton Procuring Subservience -- or -- Ritual Abuse of Power by State

Regarding mod points, I've never had one in all my time on /.

Re:Duh, of course it's not available

[kermidge]

Agreed.

"In a twist that will certainly raise some eyebrows...."

Why? Did the Stasi publish the results of its field tests?

Only raised brows will be from those somehow thinking otherwise.

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms

[TigerPlish]

Stinger.

For when ye granpappy's olde side-by-side 12-gauge isn't enough.

Re:The Right to Keep and Bear Arms

[zill]

Unit cost: $38,000

A little too rich for my blood. Someone come up with a DIY version and put it on kickstarter. As long as you have put an Arduino in there it'll sell like hotcakes.

Re:The Right to Keep and Bear Arms

[Anonymous Coward]

Drug interdiction helicopters were being shot down in the late 1990s with .50 BMG rifles and other large calibers in Southern Ky, Northern Tn. Drones are a smaller target but if they are low enough and enough lead is flung at them they'll keep them high enough to reduce their effectiveness.

Re:The Right to Keep and Bear Arms

[TigerPlish]

A little too rich for my blood. Someone come up with a DIY version and put it on kickstarter. As long as you have put an Arduino in there it'll sell like hotcakes.

Just thought of this... sshhhhh, don't give DHS any more ideas -- model rocketeers into the really big stuff were being hounded by Ashcroft's Asshat Brigade out of fear that someone could.. build something like a Stinger. Or worse. Out of commonly-available parts.

Re:The Right to Keep and Bear Arms

[evil_aaronm]

Because -our- government would never abuse these drones to spy on innocent Americans, or use them for crowd control, or, even, shoot at Americans placed on some anti-terrorist list of targets. Never happen, right...?

Re:The Right to Keep and Bear Arms

[BlueStrat]

Unit cost: $38,000

A little too rich for my blood. Someone come up with a DIY version and put it on kickstarter. As long as you have put an Arduino in there it'll sell like hotcakes.

Well, something like the Qassam rocket is DIY-able, but it's unguided, wildly inaccurate, and not good for much but terrorist attacks against a population center.

Probably the best bet would be a RC quad-rotor carrying Semtex for a practical DIY guided weapon. Range, speed, and altitude would be limited, ditto the practical carrying capacity.

Strat

Re:Duh, of course it's not available

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

The Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety (RAPS) — will remain unavailable to the public

Unless they've dealt with that (alleged) GPS spoofing issue, the RAPS may also be available to anyone who transmits a series of specially formatted requests from a GPS simulator unit...

Re:Didn't read the summary

[flaming error]

Dude, I don't even comment my work.

But if I were to comment on this story, I think my comment would be that I can't make heads or tails of this sentence:

In a twist that will certainly raise some eyebrows, the program's results of the ironically named program - The Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety (RAPS) - will remain unavailable to the public, which considering how involved the actual public may be with these drones is shall we say, unfortunate.

I think Samzenpus has been mixing his Ritalin with tequila.

RAPS- comforting name

[swell]

"Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety (RAPS)"

Ah, "Public Safety"! Can't you just see it now? Robot helicopters intelligently lifting flood victims from rooftops, rescuing kittens from treetops, spraying killer bee swarms with sleep inducing chemicals. They'll come to the aid of lost hikers, climbers and avalanche victims. They will patrol for lost boaters and surveil and protect tagged endangered species from predators- human or other. Their eye in the sky will alert emergency services of serious auto accidents, fires, or weather conditions. They will survey bridge structures and other critical infrastructure for damage, weakness and risk of failure. Their sensors will give us early warning of radiation leaks, chemical spills, dangerous pollutants, and excess allergens.

They will be our Public Safety angel!
I'm sure this is what our beneficent government has in mind, right?

Re:RAPS- comforting name

[jamstar7]

All tech are tools - they can be used for good or for bad. I don't see how flying drones would hurt, if all flying safety protocols are in place and working. If there are technical issues - let's talk about them. Please leave 'omg there's drone out there to bomb me in my homeland' discussion out of this, because, well, it won't work.

Agreed, tech is just tools and toys. Problem is, this tech is going to be controlled by people raised on Nintendo warfare, supervised by people with no oversight and no possibility of dismissal by ballot box. It's not the tech we're worried about, it's the people behind the tech that we worry about. Even if they're a bunch of unicorn huggers when this gets deployed, who's to say the next bunch won't be unicorn barbequers? What guarantee do we have of that? Hell, we have problems making sure the Federal alphabet agencies get proper fucking search warrants these days, and those in and of themselves are not lethal, it's the agents behind the guns. And you want to hand those bozos toys that are potentially lethal to human beings? Without oversight???? Without the public having recourse and redress?

Dude, put down the pipe already and turn yourself in. You're insufficiently paranoid to survive in today's politico-economic climate.

Re:I'll probably be dead before they get too popul

[dkleinsc]

A remarkable number of people completely trust their government. I'm still not sure who these strange folks are, but I regularly get the argument (for example) that the thoroughly benevolent and just TSA is using naked body scanners not to enrich Michael Chertoff or give agents cheap thrills but to protect us from terrorism (number of terrorists caught using these scanners: 0).

RAPS - Acronyms Ad Hominem

[Penurious Penguin]

Ransacking Americans, Pretext Security
Rogue Authoritarians for Perpetual Surveillance
Royalty Aerially Patrolling Serfs
Rapacious Airborne Police Squads
Rapidly Ascending Poop Slinger ?

Looking for a few good drones????

[erp_consultant]

Some jokes just write themselves...