Seattle cancels police drone program after outcry over privacy issues

[Scoundrel]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...privacy-issues

"Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said Thursday that he and Police Chief John Diaz decided to cancel the use of two unmanned helicopters to better focus on maintaining the public's trust."

Wait, that implies that they HAVE our trust to begin with. Which they do not.

[knkali]

it sacres me it ever got this far.

[OldLincoln]

Re: Seattle cancels police drone program after outcry over privacy issues

Different perspective... There's an argument for more police on the streets but they cost a lot of overhead.but letssay they didn't. They say there's never a cop around when you need them. So technology can place camerias at intersections and broad mobile coverage with low overhead but people objecr to tpo much visibility of law enforcement.

Exactly what is it that is objectionable?

[Scoundrel]

It's a tricky question, for sure.

But fixed cameras in public places aren't as big a privacy hit as drones that can fly around and look in your window.

[wyntrout]

All Police Departments are not just as friendly as those you've seen on TV, especially the older series... to Serve and Protect. There are those who don't like guns in the hands of civilians and would like nothing better than everyone to be monitored 24/7.

I hope that we never get as bad as England and countries like that... the ones that have cameras on every light pole and vantage point. I don't mind a few in problem areas where crime IS a problem, but our BIG Government is already too much like Big Brother... too intrusive. Some of you probably don't think that having every gun purchase go through an FFL with background check is a bad idea, either... de facto registration. What could go wrong with that? Just ask the Russian, German, Chinese, Korean and the many other examples where the government stripped its citizens of the means of self defense... oh, wait... most of those countries ELIMINATED all the people who objected to being enslaved.

If you don't think it could happen here... just consider that most of us who served in the military FOUGHT Communism... tyrannical Socialist despots... just as our "Great Ruler" wannabe. Now the stupid "Main Stream Media" have championed and supported the election of a Marxist/Socialist/Communist who's extremely Anti-Colonialist and hates the U.S.A.'s stature in the word that he attributes to our exploitation and mistreatment of developing or un-developed in the past. He came here with the notion of "putting the U.S.A. in her place"... punishing her for those perceived colonial misdeeds.

Obama and his cohorts see an America from the other side of the "Iron Curtain" that we used to guard against. They can not be trusted to protect our rights since they don't like the Constitution and its restrictions. They are "Elite" and super intelligent(to themselves, like the "Hollywood elite") and know what's best for the generally unenlightened and stupid populace.

Dang! I can get carried away, but you can't give these guys an inch... they're looking at the big picture... the one in which you work for them and they let you keep enough to subsist... until you become a drag on the dwindling resources...and you should be grateful. They just want to do what's "best for you", since you obviously can't do things for yourself!



Wynn

[muggsy]

It 1984 all over again.

[OldLincoln]

Guess I'll watch "Enemy of the State" again, for about the 30th time. I'm seeing and participating in the hardening of homes into fortresses because the enemy is at the gate and they aren't wearing blue. Our crime problem driven by gangs is out of control and we are reducing the number of street cops. Seems a shame to take away what could possibly be a good tool as a first responder to observe the scene.

That said I was surprised that the Seattle units are toys with a 15 minute flight time. That's plain silly! "Bad guys headed West with a hostage but my 15 minutes is up." I thought they were serious drones with a few hours loiter time.

[wyntrout]

I haven't looked lately, but I saw the quad-electric-motor "eye-in-the-sky" with HD video at Costco a few months ago for about $300 or so. I don't remember if it transmitted video or just recorded for later viewing. Live-video would be more useful... could peek at the ladies, if that's your thing... sunbathing au naturel in their own backyards!

There are a lot of smaller and less expensive drones, but some have the new chips with the gyroscope built in and with the simple computers can hover and do stuff without you being a skilled pilot or RC controller.

Last year there was an incident where there was something "gun" going on and a "green" bunch had one of those quads trying to video the event. Someone shot it down... "greens" were PO'd. This was on YouTube.

Oh! And a 15-minute flight time with a hand-launched small RC with a live video feed can be a life saver for the troops in the field to scope out ambushes and troop concentrations for arty support!

Wynn

[wyntrout]

Then there's this:



Wynn

[yqtszhj]

Different perspective... There's an argument for more police on the streets but they cost a lot of overhead.but letssay they didn't. They say there's never a cop around when you need them. So technology can place camerias at intersections and broad mobile coverage with low overhead but people objecr to tpo much visibility of law enforcement.

Exactly what is it that is objectionable?

I think about England where you are on camera EVERYWHERE. Big Brother surveillance. And in my opinion abuse by government. Yeah they may be able to follow the bad guy but your movements are recorded everywhere you go.

Just my thoughts

[Scoundrel]

Last year there was an incident where there was something "gun" going on and a "green" bunch had one of those quads trying to video the event. Someone shot it down... "greens" were PO'd. This was on YouTube.

Oh! And a 15-minute flight time with a hand-launched small RC with a live video feed can be a life saver for the troops in the field to scope out ambushes and troop concentrations for arty support!

Wynn

The ones the Seattle police had were limited to 15 minutes as Old Lincoln said - but that's just the beginning. Once people allow them to use those, then come the 4-hour flight time ones later.

That thing in the news was a pigeon shoot somewhere. The greenies protested and threatened to monitor the thing with the drone. The pigeon shooters cancelled the event, but the greenies couldn't resist playing with their toy anyway. They sent it up, and it was immediately shot down.

Couple of guys on dirt bikes were seen fleeing the vicinity form where the shot came.

I call that a win for the guys on the dirt bikes. The drone was not completely destroyed, but the point was made.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pidg...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[wyntrout]

Now that thing costs CONSIDERABLY more than $300! It a wonder it could fly. I thought that it wasn't badly damaged and was soon flying again. The shooters need high-flying goose loads... #4 buck or BB's... lead, of course, unless you have a source for depleted uranium pellets!

Wynn

[Scoundrel]

The ones the Seattle Police had were not $300 either. The article did not specify exact cost but it does say this:

"A recent push for unmanned police aircraft was driven by U.S. Department of Homeland Security grants, including $80,000 used by Seattle to buy the eye-in-the-sky choppers in 2010."

The Costco $300 units are toys.

[Bawanna]

After all the real helicopters they have crashed over the years the unmanned eye in the sky thing is probably dirt cheap.

I had an uncle in line to fly a chopper for them but right as his number came up they crashed the last one and decided to abandon them. I don't know if they have any at all now, that was quite awhile ago.
I think they might be an ok thing for when they are actively pursuing someone for a serious crime. Right handy to have a birdseye view and a spotlight from the real helicopters, not sure if they can support a big enough light on the drones.

What kind of motorcycle were you riding Scoundrel. Nicely done on the drone shoot.

[Scoundrel]

Wish I could say it was me.

Here are some more details:

"The drone, dubbed “Angel,” was a Cinestar 8 octocopter estimated at $4,000.

This wasn’t the first time SHARK has been shot out of the sky. This is the fourth drone that the group has lost while investigating pigeon shootings. One drone landed on club property, and is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit.

“It’s becoming a regular occurrence because the police refuse to do anything,” Hindi said."

Here's a video in which it gets shot down: http://youtu.be/zlgqJwHvy-0

Update: The video is not really worth watching. The onboard video shows a bunch of blue sky and not much else until the moment when it crashes, at which point all you can really see is that one of the rotors seems to have sliced the wires feeding it power.

Then they show a "ground camera" video which again shows almost nothing. You can see, at one point, after several shots are fired, that one of the rotors has stopped. The camera operator can't keep it in frame or in focus to save his life. Probably too busy gawking to keep the camera straight.

Then they show a video of them taunting the people who shot it down, yelling things intended to incite the shooters to do something foolish.