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Drones Cost $28,000 Per Arrest, On Average

Posted by Soulskill on from the tag-and-release-even-more-expensive dept.

mpicpp sends this report from CNN: They are sleek, mostly silent converted weapons of war: Drones used by the Border Patrol to scan the skies in the empty deserts of the Southwest to spot illegal immigrants and then, if things work out, have agents arrest them. That's the idea, and the agents who use them say the drones give them a vantage point they never had before. Flying at 18,000 feet, the drones view the landscape below, lock onto potential suspects crossing the Arizona desert, and agents on the ground move into make the arrests. But it's outrageously expensive: $28,000 for a single arrest.

13 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Is that really a lot? by Mal-2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's assume for a moment that they're serious about deporting people.

    What's the cost if they get through, and have to be tracked down by traditional methods? What's the cost of putting more people there to achieve the same level of effectiveness? What's the cost of flying conventional aircraft to do the job?

    When pitted against those methods by comparison, $28,000 might actually not be all that bad.

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    1. Re:Is that really a lot? by space_jake · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or just have them come here, work, and pay taxes.

    2. Re:Is that really a lot? by userw014 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The math for calculating this cost is deceptively simple-minded - and the article doesn't offer any way to compare it with other methods.

      A (very) brief search for the US Border Patrol budget and apprehensions found these:

      • http://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/BP%20Total%20Apps%2C%20Mexico%2C%20OTM%20FY2000-FY2014_0.pdf
      • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Customs_and_Border_Protection

      or FY2014 budget of $13.6 Billion and 486,651 apprehensions.

      That gives an average cost of $27946/apprehension for the entire organization. My (very, very) simple minded calculation is remarkably similar to the Office of Inspector General's figures for just the drone program. If anything, it shows that just introducing drones doesn't change the cost-per-apprehension of the Border Patrol. A more important question would be whether cost-per-apprehension is even a valid metric for the Border Patrol.

    3. Re:Is that really a lot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Americans have no interest in those jobs. I see no shortage of minimum wage, unskilled labor job postings here. Problem is most people think they're better than that.

    4. Re:Is that really a lot? by sumdumass · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Correction. Americans have no interest in those jobs at the wages being offered. Of course the wages will never rise when the employer can exploit illegal aliens at lower and sometimes even illegal wages.

      But wait you think, those are minimum wage jobs. Well, nothing forces them fo pay only minimum wage. Should a real and legal market exist, they would likely be paying above minimim wage and would not be minim wage jobs.

    5. Re:Is that really a lot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Newsflash... minimum wage isn't supposed to.

    6. Re:Is that really a lot? by Adriax · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Bullshit. Minimum wage is supposed to keep employers from abusing the desperate by making sure someone working full time or more can afford to survive without working themselves to death.
      When people have to work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week just to afford a roof and food they find crime becomes an attractive alternative.

      --
      I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
    7. Re:Is that really a lot? by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Problem is most people think they're better than that.

      Americans have no interest in those jobs at the rate they are currently paying. Before the influx of illegal immigration (as well as offshoring), the working class was making a living wage. Nowadays, it's damn near impossible to survive (much less thrive) on the pittance that's being passed off as minimum wage. It's literally better to not work, get on welfare, and instead live a no-stress life - free of the abuses the lowest rung on the ladder normally take. It's not an issue of what they think - people are better than that.

      OH THE LOLS!

      The working class was making a living wage doing, for the most part, manual unskilled job (pull a lever on a converyor belt or making US flags. That went away with globalization, starting with the rise of Japan, and then the opening of China (and India to a degree).

      Many studies have already debunked the idea that illegals have been depressing salaries. Overseas competition is what is killing jobs and depressing salaries. Not that I'm supporting illegal immigration (any country must have the right to control its borders), nor demonizing overseas competition (adapt or die motherfuckers.) But let's keep shit more or less accurate, shall we?

    8. Re:Is that really a lot? by sycodon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ya...they all came in legally, through Ellis Island. Underwent exams, were quarantined if needed and many sent back.

      And they came in through the Golden Door, not the Back Door.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    9. Re:Is that really a lot? by nbauman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The working class was making a living wage doing, for the most part, manual unskilled job (pull a lever on a converyor belt or making US flags.

      I'd like to know where you got the idea that the working class was doing mostly manual unskilled jobs.

      I lived in Brooklyn, where a major industry was manufacturing and repairing electric motors. That all disappeared with cheap (usually lower-quality) Japanese electric motors. We had a big electronics industry in New York. We had a big printing industry, which requires a lot of skilled workers. We had a big garment industry. We had airports with big maintenance shops. Most of the American airlines are now sending their planes out to mechanics in Latin America.

      It wasn't because Americans were less efficient, or because foreign workers were willing to do the same job cheaper. German workers kept their industries and kept competitive while they paid their workers the same salaries Americans used to get. It was because the American businesses made a decision that treating their workers well wasn't a factor.

      There are a wide range of jobs in an industrial factory, but most of them were skilled and high-paid. We lost them with free trade.

      All the benefits of free trade went to the business owners, and none of the benefits went to the workers.

  2. Wrong kind of drone? by leonbev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Instead of using a multi million dollar Predator drone to scan the border, perhaps they should be using something smaller and cheaper like a beefed up version of a Parrot drone instead.

    Do we really need something that flies at 18,000 feet to patrol the border?

  3. Government spending money on anything is terrible by Pope+Hagbard · · Score: 1, Insightful

    except for the military, naturally. Republicans love them some war boners.

  4. You know if you just start putting fining... by Bonzoli · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If we(all of us) stop employing the illegal immigrants they will stop jump, tunneling, bussing, boating, and swimming to the US. How about instead of buying guns and drones we set up databases and fine the companies and people employing folks illegally. Its simple.

    I lived in Nevada and the landlord used to complain every day about all the illegals in the area. I got frustrated with her one day and stated if you stop employing them to paint, do yard work, and cook they would all leave or at least stop coming here.
    Farmers need some method to get folks willing to help to the farms, that system has to be in place along side the other ones.
    Once the Nancy pelosi's and others employing them as maids and gardeners get fined and put in prison this will end. You will never stop this with drones or guns. Stop the Money and you stop the problem. At this point in time, I'd jump the fence and take the chance just like they are in their positions.
    Taking a vacation to america to have a baby has to end also. Its an archaic method that has to stop.