We didn't even flinch when we heard that hovering drones employed by Big Brother were
going to work in the UK, but somehow those buggers have managed to wander over to America's east coast. Granted, the pilotless drones -- crafted with good intentions by Honeywell -- that are slated to report in to the Miami-Dade police department aren't exactly the same, but they are expected to be used for similar duties. More specifically, they'll be loosed in order to oversee "urban areas with an eye toward full-fledged employment in crime fighting." According to a department spokesman, the fuzz are only looking to use it in "tactical situations as an extra set of eyes," but don't be shocked to see flashing lights from a vehicle without wheels next time you're rolling (a little too) quick down South Beach.
posted Mar 26th 2008 9:59AM
Nice...can I send this thing after my mother-in-law?
No, but you can get yourself a crowbar, that'll defend you against all hovering drones and most mother in laws.
Nah... use a pellet gun from a hidden position, have a friend run off unseen with the gun and then get out and run under the falling drone. End of the drones being used because of the public outcry, and if you survive, you've hit the lawyer lottery.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants [and you might even get rich doing it!]"
Make sure she doesn't have a shotgun and mistakes this drone for clay-pigeon!!
You are in the Matrix = Rise Against the Drones.
Here comes the sentinels making their rounds for signs of human life or as they say, trouble.
I'm seeing Guilty Spark 343.
That's an Imperial Probe droid alright!
"tactical situations"
You mean like for rioting Miami Heat fans? Isn't that why we need the Governator up there in a chopper? ("Shoot them!")
Geez. The Running Man will never come to FOX if we send little robots up there to do his job.
this seems strangely familiar {MGS2?}
Deus Ex anyone...?(the game that is)
Look like the interrogation droids from Star Wars.
I bet they make good moving targets to practice shooting skills on too.
I think robots would make better police officers than humans.
Robots would shoot more accurately and eliminate friendly fire (on their part - not the criminal's) and they would be able to use sophisticated sensors to decide whether or not the target was armed...
...unlike your typical racist cop who shoots unarmed civilians because they look and dress a certain way.
A robot could decide whether someone's heart condition is in danger of being excited negatively by use of a taser.
last time i checked the role of police wasn't killing people, in the UK the average policeman is unarmed.
@ Flashpoint.
i take it you haven't seen robocop
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
"in their persons, houses, papers, and effects"
And this thing looks at people outside their homes (cameras are downward facing, would be very difficult, if not impossible, to look in most windows), and can see no more than a police officer could on their own, so you can quit worrying about your fourth amendment rights with this thing (especially when there are so many other ways the fourth amendment gets violated). It's designed to give a birds-eye view of several city blocks to help with riots or chases, not see what type of porno mag you buy and take into your mom's basement.
Having grown up in Miami, I can tell you that these things won't be in the air long enough to bother anyone.
Kamikaze el-cheapo RC planes, anyone?
Might as well just paint a big red bullseye on them an be done with it.
What's the limit on them? When does drone hunting season open?
I want one, I wanna spy on the people I hate, maybe, it will come with a lazar attachment! LAZARS FTW!
I'm telling you, this will become a Logan's Run country in no time!
Reminds me of the show "Dark Angel" when they had those police hover drones
wicked can i get one
I have a feeling the real reason they are not going to use them in crime infested areas is that they will be shot down and/or stolen.
Annoying Half Life 2 saw drones anyone?
Pick up that can
yobs would tie kittens to them like they do on bonfire night. i dont know if they have bonfire night in america. i'll assume they do.
I can assure you guy fawkes and his mates only tried to blow up the houses of parliment in the UK, so no, they dont, instead they have Independence Day (4th of july)
the fuzz are only looking to use it in "tactical situations as an extra set of eyes,"
Yeah. To make sure the female sunbathers don't get too rowdy.
I wonder how many people would use those as target practice?
Stories about these sorts of pilotless drones patrolling some city's skyways always bring out the sensationalists and conspiricists (and people like d0n0van, who pull a non sequitur and quote the Constitution for no reason), but I've never seen how they're any different than having an officer patrolling the street or cruising around (or in this case, having a police chopper flying by).
These aren't equipped with some kind of mystical Superman X-Ray vision devices; they aren't watching you in your home. They're watching people on the streets, something any cop on the beat could do anyway. Nobody usually has a problem with being seen in public, except when being watched becomes slightly more efficient (drones, red light cameras, etc) and then the sky is falling.
> ...they aren't watching you in your home...
Actually, they are (as are those police helicopters).
There are many cases of infrared being used to find internal-to-home unusual heat sources to target in-house marijuana growing.
@ What
In that case, I still don't see how this is somehow worthy of Chicken Little-style sensationalism and paranoia. As you said, this is something that is already happening. Now it's just happening remotely. If it wasn't a big deal before, why is it when a drone is involved?
A quiet 22 inch tall drone can fit where a 30 foot long noisy helicopter cannot.
Since it CAN fit there, it WILL fit there - guaranteed.
Taking that drone down to ... ahem ... 500 feet (yeah, like that's the lowest it'll go, alrightee!) and, say, peeking into a horizontal blind that has been turned so only those ABOVE the blind can look in, is not an unusual extrapolation at all.
The FBI just got done admitting that those outrageous National Security Letters were totally abused because they could be. Guess what else is GUARANTEED to get abused?
Nice comments Josh! However, most people posting on here will never understand and will continue to believe the far out theories they are spouting. I don't mind these devices. I have nothing to hide and would prefer LEO's have an advantage when trying to enforce current laws.....
It looks like an alien ship. Shoot it down!
I didn't see a cost there but I see that Honeywell is involved so I'm sure those things run about $350K a pop.
I wonder why they don't just use an RC helicopter with a camera on it? I'm sure if the Auto-pilot hardware/software can fly that thing it can surely handle an RC copter. There....I just saved the taxpayer $347K each.
These things can run an automated flight plan and are much more durable and reliable than a RC helicopter. This has actually been featured on Future Weapons and was originally military equipment.
All your base are belong to us.
I saw the "Hovering drone could report for work at Miami police station" and looked at the image and instantly got a mental picture of the empty city square in the beginning of half life 2. def has a combine camerabot feel to it
Very nice! Hope someone don't shoot it down.
I work for HW, and this has been in development the aerospace division for a long time.
Video here:
http://www.honeywell.com/sites/portal?smap=aerospace&page=mav_video&theme=T8
I, for one, welcome our new hovering overlords
What's the date? Surely an early April fool joke?
These things sound cool, only if they weren't being used for sinister purposes by governments, including our very own U.S. of A.
And expect these to be used for target practice.
They have a 10,500ft flight ceiling. Good luck trying to hit that.
Didn't I see this thing in Empire Strikes Back? Hopefully they didn't put a self destruct device in it.
Even as a cop that scares me
The fact that only licensed pilots will be operating these drones is not any more comforting.
http://www.robotliving.com/2008/01/01/drones-over-miami/
HAHA, they stole Snake's Cypher... snake, Snake SNAKE!!!
That's no alliance signal...
"Our UAV is online."
Anyone else but me curious about how this thing stays in the air? If you know please tell me cause I don't see any blades and rockets would be too obvious.
It's probably just a meteor. Chewy and I'll go check it out.
I didn't hit it that hard. Must have had a self-destruct device.
Uhh...great spy device. They couldn't have made it a little smaller?
great spy device
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
spy on what?
Yea, well when I am getting a little sunburn on my private parts with my significant friend and she is getting a little too hot annd needs a little cooling off,,,,I don't need some stupid drone taking a birds eye view of my pool...which I spent a good deal of money to make that way....PRIVATE...
Dark Angel
is it cool to say 'loosed?'
Rowdy Roddy Piper is not impressed.
(Can't believe there wasn't a 'They Live' reference yet)
Shoes and poultry limbs will be thrown at these things. They need these in broward county too.
but will it blend?
I've said it before and I'll say it again, you're not funny. Enough with the stupid will it play doom and will it blend jokes. They're just not funny.
Looks like a floating charcoal grill
Miami will soon be known as City 17
Oh noes, Skynet!
hovering? man... it feels like I'm watching SciFi movie... like... Judge Dredd... Stallone on those hovering bike flying around :-s
They should add a net gun below it and fire it at unsuspecting criminals... that would be one hell of a surprize!
To a liberal big brother h8er like me, this thing just screams "FIND A WAY TO SHOOT ME DOWN COVERTLY, IT'LL BE FUN!!"
Why covertly? Just defend your area from aliens and their probes ;)
Well although it's pointless I just want to say I strongly oppose these things and think they should be outlawed for domestic use for starters and a global ban on use would be best.
Wow, I'm surprised no one mentioned Ghost Recon.
Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.
/Surprised no one has mentioned this one yet.
//Obscure?
damn as if they dont harras you enough in miami now i have to deal with hovering cops
too big :)
CLOSE YOUR CHIMNEYS ,cops have no limits....and alot of them are CROOKS TOO
I'm okay w/it. Checked out the crime stats in some Miami n'hoods?
Ready PULL!
So, this is how Liberty dies!!!!
I can just picture the cops sitting around munching doughnuts and laughing at everything they see on camera while the drones do their work for them. I think the drones would be better used to follow the cops around and see what "the good guys" are up to. I do think I would feel safer with a machine instead of some hotheaded bully with a chip on his shoulder and an itchy taser trigger finger.
Hey Hovering Drone - Hover on over to Washington and smack the idiots that are wasting tax-payers money !! Hurry, before it's all gone.
"Your civil rights have been neutralized. You're not intelligent enough to know what's best for you so we'll take it from here." Signed, Georgie B.
Hey, dudes and dudettes, how do you create a police state? 1) Create poverty, 2) give them enough drugs, guns, and hardware to create gangs (gangs hang around in poor areas), 3) Reduce funding for the poor, 4) wait...
And if you think that is our beloved government protecting your sweet-ass, forget it!!! That was their plan to begin with.
Any questions, buckaroos???
PS: I'm not a sreaming Liberal, I was born and raised there. I know more about Miami-Dade than most here. It isn't the people! It's the government!!!
Let's not get carried away with all of our reterick. The survailence society is here to stay. With the threat of "so called terrorism". They make a problem so they can watch us. We are and have been in a time of war ever since the constitution has been written. All bets are off. We the People VS. The government, who wants us to give ALL of our soverenty to them either by force or coersion. Coersion is the less forcefull way.