We had quite a show last week as the Seattle Police held a public meeting to discuss their plans to use small surveillance drones for various purposes. Protesters made the meeting pretty much useless - lots of loud concern over civil liberties. I fear the coverage of offensive weaponized drones combined with a general concern over past misbehaviors by the police here have caused people to be especially suspicious of both the technology and the motives of the department.
The city is planning on spending app. $80,000 for two devices (which seems outrageous to me, but then again, I suspect they are getting a really good warranty).
I believe the ones they are looking at are the Draganflyer units (http://www.draganfly.com/)
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Tony, thats not asking questions, thats just protesting in a very ineffective manner. Those people were not looking for answers, if they were they would have been sitting in seats but being very vocal in a more civil manner. When you walk into a presentation meant to have some transparancy and yell louder than anyone else, all you do is make the other party look for ways to avoid that sort of situation in the future, making the entire thing less transparent.
If they want change it wont' be the Police that gives them that.. it will be the state congress creating rules and regulations around flying quad copters, etc.
My point is that this way of doing it does not move them in the direction of change that they are looking for but quite the opposite.
Actually, the courts do decide how the constitution is to be applied - it's called judicial review and has been the way things work since Marbury v. Madison.
That said, I think the police did the right thing in presenting their case publicly - but in Seattle, they really don't have much choice. This way it gets people talking an thinking and it allows people to vent. Then the rules will get written and things will move on. I do wish the loud anarchic stuff would get toned down since there were a number of people at the event who ended up not being able to ask and get answered and so left without learning what they went there to learn.
One thing protesters should consider is whether their right to be loud and obnoxious in advance of anything worth yelling about actually furthers or hinders their cause.
These people have done exactly the opposite to what they were hoping which is that they have made the SPD less transparent and open about their use of drones which if any department wants to they will regardless.
The SPD doesn't have to do events like this were they provide some transparency to what they plan on doing and get feedback from people that live there... with this sort of thing they will be a heck of a lot less likely to even do events like this.
So yeah they effectively have done the opposite to what thay had been hoping to do.
I like the comment about companies operating the drones instead of the police... the beauty of companies is they can and do get sued and can loose everything and can be more easily regulated it seems. (well in some ways).
Those people in the video make me sick. I hate how drone is used as if it is a killing machine.. based on their view it seems like they should be calling commercial air craft fighter jets that kill people in Iraq.... seems like a over simplification to a entire industry because not all air planes are fighter jets.
Anway.. it sounds like the drones aren't the problem but the regulation of their use is.. much like other police equipment. I sure as hell would want them to have drones if my kids go missing in the woods..etc. There are a heck of a lot of good that they can be used for.. such as aerial photography of forest fires to understand where to fight the blazes, or agriculture analysis.
My point is that the equipment is NOT the problem its the use and regulation of how the equipment gets used.. Please solve that PROBLEM and not call quad copters killing machines as a general stearotype.
That is just funny. That lady had me rolling on the floor. And the guy with the mask (You could pay someone to do that) that was awesome.
I think they will ultimately disappointed with the results. What will happen is persistent shared orbits by larger platforms. The intel will be sold to whichever agency needs it. Look at Afghanistan civilian operators are already operating large UA and selling the info.
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