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LAPD Gets Some Hand-Me-Down Drones From Seattle, Promises Discretion
After Seattleites objected to the local police department's plan to deploy unmanned aircraft, that plan was withdrawn. Now, it seems, Seattle has found a willing recipient for some of the drones that it no longer has use for: the Los Angeles Police Department. From the linked article: "The Draganflyer X6 aircraft, which resemble small helicopters, are each about 3 feet wide and equipped with a camera, video camera and infrared night-vision capabilities. In making the announcement, however, department officials were at pains to make it clear the LAPD doesn't intend to use the new hardware to keep watch from above over an unsuspecting public. If they're used at all, the remotely controlled aircraft will be called on only for "narrow and prescribed uses" that will be made clear to the public, the statement said."
Don't worry, we trust you completely.
Maybe we should use... oh what's that word... starts with a D and we never use it?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
It figures it'd be the LAPD. What other police force on the west coast would hunger for this kind of invasiveness?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
The US House of Representatives passed H.R. 4660 yesterday, Rep,. Rush Holt (D-N.J) added a couple of amendments to this bill which prohibit local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies from purchasing or using unmanned aircraft based on privacy concerns....
So the next time a quad copter in the hands of a law enforcement agency could have potentially found a lost hiker, or monitored a wildfire etc.. I guess you're out of luck....
Before people started calling them drones they were called Radio Controlled Planes and were super fun to play with. I remember 20 years ago seeing a person land a gas powered model float plane on the water at my cottage. Now that was skill!
Any tool the police can use to investigate hard to see areas, around corners, in crowds, hostage situations and to prevent officers getting in harms way is a good idea.
Its official. The cops in LA have now become the enemy of the people.
Great! Just what the law enforcement groups needed, really.
If they can find a jurisdiction that will tolerate or embrace this activity, they can hold it up as an example in other places to justify the adoption.
Once the movement reaches a critical threshold, it will be easy to force the "upgrade" even on comparatively hostile populations.
Our freedoms fall like dominoes.
There is still generally a big difference between drones and RC aircraft.
RC aircraft do include many of the quadcopters and traditional devices that are controlled by line-of-sight from a controlling box. The key difference is that RC aircraft are not fully autonomous.
Drones are the ones that can fly with autonomy, be programmed with routes, and otherwise do things independently from the radio controller.
These specific devices feature GPS-driven autopilot, dynamic routing, and automated photography systems. The website also lists some auto-drop functionality to deliver small packages to GPS coordinates. They can fly autonomously to GPS locations, take actions, fly elsewhere, take actions, then fly home.
While they do offer a regular controller box and can operate as normal RC aircraft, they are also GPS-drivable, programmably autonomous, and capable of fully automated flight and fully automated recording, so these Dragonflyer X6 devices very firmly fall into the 'drone' category.
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
department officials were at pains to make it clear the LAPD doesn't intend to use the new hardware to keep watch from above over an unsuspecting public.
Ahh, well that completely sets my mind at ease. How could anyone doubt the integrity of the LAPD?
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
a. that's a 35K copter with NO GPS (the older models didn;t have it, though this could be retro fitted) and if upgraded, has hold position and that's it.
b. that 35K copter can be trumped by a @2K DJI phantom setup--if LAPD paid over 10K for that, I say it's a complete RIP OFF.
c. LA is a urban canyon in most places, GPS and RF will likely be a question--so the use will likely be limited.
d. does LAPD have a COA?
It figures it'd be the LAPD. What other police force on the west coast would hunger for this kind of invasiveness?
There is nothing on the west coast like the LAPD.
With 10,023 officers and 2,879 civilian staff, it is the third-largest local law enforcement agency in the United States, after the New York City Police Department and the Chicago Police Department. The department serves an area of 498 square miles (1,290 km2) and a population of 3,792,621 people as of the 2010 Census.
Los Angeles Police Department
LAPD acquires two drones, to consider employing them for 'narrow' use
The X6 is a spy drone with wireless video and still cameras (in hi-def, infra-red and 0 lux flavors) that can fly autonomously, or as a remote-controlled bot. It has 11 sensors (including gyros, accelerometers, barometers, magnetometers and GPS) and is so easy to pilot, a Wii gamer could do it. Now it will be used by the Ontario Provincial Police and the Saskatoon Police to patrol crime scenes and help gather evidence.
The Draganflyer X6 UAV Police Edition
[March 2009]
As per the FAA website:
Busting Myths about the FAA and Unmanned Aircraft
http://www.faa.gov/news/update...
Myth #3: Commercial UAS operations are a “gray area” in FAA regulations.
Fact—There are no shades of gray in FAA regulations. Anyone who wants to fly an aircraft—manned or unmanned—in U.S. airspace needs some level of FAA approval. Private sector (civil) users can obtain an experimental airworthiness certificate to conduct research and development, training and flight demonstrations. Commercial UAS operations are limited and require the operator to have certified aircraft and pilots, as well as operating approval. To date, only two UAS models (the Scan Eagle and Aerovironment’s Puma) have been certified, and they can only fly in the Arctic. Public entities (federal, state and local governments, and public universities) may apply for a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA)
Maximum big companies using HD camera technology to collect all the information from the company management. It is connected with LAN and WAN for proper management.http://www.hdrelay.com/
They use choppers so much it seemed like a war zone there much if the time anyway. I'm glad I don't live there anymore. I live in a small town now that can't afford choppers. And they do fine. A PD relying on choppers is like the NSA relying on mass data collection-- unnecessary and intrusive.
"Pssst, you, copper, hear you're in the market for used skybots..."
Table-ized A.I.
Dont worry guys, its the LAPD. These guys keep their word.
I feel safer already.
At what point did the LAPD cease to be a police organization and become a military one (owing allegiance to the Mayor and city of Los Angeles instead of the US federal government)? They use military hardware and tactics. In some instances, I can understand the need; now that criminals are using hardened installations, body armor, automatic/paramilitary weapons, there needs to be a capacity for law enforcement to respond in kind. What I find lacking is the oversight. As nearly as I can determine, the only thing reining in the private paramilitary organization created by (now retired) police chief Daryl Gates is often civilians with cell-phone cameras.
LAPD - "To Protect and Serve" has seemingly be replaced with "We'll treat you like a King".
can't we all just learn to swim?
The LAPD needs to keep busy tracking their competition for drug smuggling. They normally have heliocopters in the air, so this can keep it cheaper and probably minimize the labor involved chasing the normal murders at night.
Q: Why is starting a comment in the Subject: field incredibly irritating?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Like general surveillance over an unsuspecting public.
"If they're used at all, the remotely controlled aircraft will be called on only for "narrow and prescribed uses" that will be made clear to the public, the statement said."
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
"Promises Discretion" - Bull fucking shit. When has that ever been done? Besides, what they really want are Blackout Hquads.
A low cost RC plane ( low cost in comparison ) makes a great kinetic weapon against such a threat. Spot one flying about, just send one of your own up to intercept it.
Some of the better models include a turbofan engine that will push the aircraft to 200mph. The impact of the two would very likely remove the drone from the airspace at the cost of your own.
To help recover the costs you can cannibalize the high dollar optics and sensors from their aircraft :) ( or at least have fun with them )
Our federal government was initially created with three distinct divisions - executive, legislative and judicial - all of which are (theoretically) charged with oversight of the other two. Individual states are not necessarily designed to be self-regulating in this way; to the best of my knowledge, municipal governments are not at all organized to provide self-regulation. LAPD is not the only example - look at the city of Seattle's PD (which only grudgingly gave in to popular pressure to get rid of the drones, and still refuses to comply with state and federal oversight into abuses by Seattle PD).
I definitely want the cops better trained and better armed than the robbers. I also want someone not part of the PD or local government looking over their shoulder, making sure they don't set themselves up a private kingdom.
These things are toys. They are useless for anything except for a few minutes of amusement. Anyone with a catapult and a marble can shoot them down. Yes, I know, cause I have one.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
somehow, I thought the headline was "LDAP gets some drones from Seattle" and I immediately thought about Microsoft Active Directory and maybe they open sourced some sort of extensions? sounds interesting.
clicked it and said "oh... just stupid police drone stuff."
The only accurate way to talk about "discretion" when talking about the LAPD (or indeed any major police department and nearly every smaller one) is along with the phrase "abuse of".
Well, stand on a tall building, toss a net when a drone goes by...
Anyone with money, such as dope dealers, can fly their own drones. Drag a piece of string around, intercept cop drones by getting the string into their propellers. Crash bang, and they won't be able to find the owner/operator of such crime drones.
And of course there is the good old shotgun approach. A new drone costs much more than the ammo.
Criminals can do their shady deals under a tree, or indoors. Drones won't help then. A drone can follow you around like a police chopper, but only for 10min before the batteries run out. And if it runs on gas, it runs too noisy for surveillance.
Somebody can and SHOULD shoot them down.
What in fucks holy name oes the Linux Documentation Project need drones for?
-- 29A the number of the Beast
As if you have!