Spy Drones Used To Hunt Down Christopher Dorner

Hugh Pickens writes writes "The Express reports that as a task force of 125 officers continue their search for Christopher Dorner in the rugged terrain around Big Bear, it was revealed that Dorner has become the first human target for remotely-controlled airborne drones on US soil. 'The thermal imaging cameras the drones use may be our only hope of finding him,' says a senior police source. 'On the ground, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.' The use of drones was confirmed by Customs and Border Patrol spokesman Ralph DeSio, who revealed agents have been prepared for Dorner to make a dash for the Mexican border since his rampage began. 'This agency has been at the forefront of domestic use of drones by law enforcement.' Dorner, who was fired from the LAPD in 2008 for lying about a fellow officer he accused of misconduct, has vowed to wreak revenge by 'killing officers and their families.' According to San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon: 'To be honest, he could be anywhere right now. Torching his own vehicle could have been a diversion to throw us off track. Anything is possible with this man.'"

Comments

not the first one

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,2135132,00.html

"In June 2011 a county sheriff in North Dakota was trying to track down three men, possibly carrying guns, in connection with some missing cows. He had a lot of ground to cover, so — as one does — he called in a Predator drone from a local Air Force base. It not only spotted the men but could see that they were in fact unarmed. It was the first time a Predator had been involved in the arrest of U.S. citizens."

Re:not the first one

[Amouth]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

"In December 1981, additional laws were enacted clarifying permissible military assistance to civilian law enforcement agencies and the Coast Guard, especially in combating drug smuggling into the United States. Posse Comitatus clarifications emphasize supportive and technical assistance (e.g., use of facilities, vessels, and aircraft, as well as intelligence support, technological aid, and surveillance) while generally prohibiting direct participation of Department of Defense personnel in law enforcement (e.g., search, seizure, and arrests). For example, a U.S. Navy vessel may be used to track, follow, and stop a vessel suspected of drug smuggling, but Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETs) embarked aboard the Navy vessel would perform the actual boarding and, if needed, arrest the suspect vessel's crew."

Sounds to me like requesting assistance of an aircraft and intelligence support is perfectly fine as long as the Sheriff in question is who made the arrest and not someone from the Air-force.

Fascinating stuff

[paiute]

Christ, this whole thing is entertaining in a macabre way that I should not be enjoying, but I am. It's like bad guys vs badder guys. I don't know who to root against from day to day.

Re:Fascinating stuff

[Blue Stone]

>"those charges were dropped after an investigation revealed that they were false."

Alternatively, with more neutrality and less bias:

"those charges were dropped after an investigation concluded that they were false."

I mean ... unless you're certain that the LAPD would never cover up wrong doing to protect their own.

Re:Fascinating stuff

[sjames]

Also noted in TFA, police wounded a mother and daughter when they opened fire on a similar looking pickup truck without verifying their target. Perhaps that's why LAPD is so unpopular.

It's the sort of thing that makes one wonder if his report was actually false in the first place.

No problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Use drones. Keep shooting random civilians until you find this man. Whatever it takes.

Re:No problem

[lennier1]

Keep shooting random civilians until you find this man.

They're already way ahead of you
Victim 1: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-torrance-shooting-20130209,0,4414028.story
Victim 2: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-torrance-shooting-20130210,0,3955268.story

The way it begins

[Compaqt]

Of course, who could oppose using hundreds of drones to hunt down a cop-killer.

And the next suggestion will be, "Wouldn't it be a good idea for the drones to be able to fire, too?" So the next thing you know, you've got weaponized drones.

And after a decade or so, they won't be used to find mass murderers. Merely traffic offenders or people late on their alimony.

Re:I wish

[Anonymous Coward]

He's killing family members too. Any level of sympathy or understanding for his position went out the window when he declared war on presumably innocent bystanders. He might have had a cause but he damned it by his own actions.

first human target

[corporate zombie]

Have the drones on the border only been going after sub-humans?

Re:I just want to point out...

[Anonymous Coward]

This is true. We should also not equip the evil cops with guns. We will have a form that we give them when they sign up with an alignment question.

Re:You have to wonder

[vlm]

Its interesting that the LAPD has shot at more innocent civilians than Dorner has. The primary difference is that the LAPD is so unprofessional they haven't successfully killed as many innocent civilians as Dorner, at least so far, although they're trying their best to even up the score. I have faith in the LAPD, they'll catch up soon enough.

Re:You have to wonder

[LiENUS]

They shot up two women in a truck, and then in another incident rammed a man that in no way fit dorners description (thin white guy) in his truck and shot at him (he was not hit by any of the shots)

It gets better. They actually stopped him, talked to him, let him go then decided to ram him and shoot at him.

Re:What the fuck is happening to my country?

[vlm]

Using drones that cause "collateral damage" to kill a suspect? What happened to the right to a fair trial, due process... ?

911. The bad guys won.

President not specially limited by Posse Comitatus

[DragonWriter]

The Posse Comitatus Act is coupled with, and defined by, the Insurrection Act of 1807. Basically, it limits the president's power. The North Dakota sheriff in question here is likely not the president.

This is wildly inaccurate. The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits anyone from using the army or air force for law enforcement purposes without specific legal (Constitutional or statutory) authorization (18 USC Sec. 1385: "Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. "); since the Insurrection Act grants specific powers to the President in this regard (see 10 USC Sec. 331-336), the Posse Comitatus Act, viewed in conjunction with the Insurrection Act, limits the President less than anyone else, not more.

Re:I just want to point out...

[Runaway1956]

Let ME point out, that LAPD are civilians. I get so tired of hearing cops refer to citizens as "civilians". And, when citizens go along with the designation, that only makes it worse.

Veterans and active duty of the armed forces commonly refer to "civilians". Police departments aren't veterans, and they employ relatively few veterans. Dorner is a veteran, so he can refer to you as civilians.

To your point - if a civilian cop can have a weapon, then any civilian who is of sound mind, and not a convict, should have access to the same weapons. You are ALL civilians!

Re:OK then what about the 2nd amendment?

[ravyne]

I'm 100% against the use of drones, but lets not confuse this guy with someone who's using his 2nd Amendment rights to fight tyranny. Firstly, because even if he was railroaded, corruption in and of itself is not tyranny. Secondly, and more importantly, he lost claim to the moral high ground by targeting the family of those he has a grudge for -- two of the three victims were the daughter of someone he holds a grudge against and her fiancee. There's nothing heroic about that. That's murder, plain and simple.