Testing Police Drones in Texas

By Wednesday June 16, 2010

What bothers me about this was the apparent lie delivered by the Police that the area had FAA flight restrictions when it did not.



37 Comments
  1. stopher2475 says:
    6/16/2010 at 7:51 am

    Do you have any idea how many seat belt tickets they’re going to have to write to pay for that thing?

    Reply
  2. Improbus says:
    6/16/2010 at 8:02 am

    No Virginia, we don’t live in a police state.

    Reply
  3. Benjamin says:
    6/16/2010 at 8:36 am

    These don’t shoot at people and lose the tape, do they?

    Reply
  4. noname says:
    6/16/2010 at 8:41 am

    If you have nothing to hide, what’s the issue.

    So why are the police being so secretive with public money. Another case of U.S. Government not wanting to be scrutinized by the public, in this farce we call democracy.

    Besides, police are always right!! The supreme-court says they can lie, ignore your rights, take your property ….

    So if you don’t like all this, then vote for change!!!

    But we did vote for change, now what? That’s the $10000.00 question the government is setting it self up for the public to ask, now what.

    Reply
  5. Maricopa says:
    6/16/2010 at 8:50 am

    What can be done, will be done. I guess it was only a matter of time. I did like the statement about getting the program going and THEN worrying about the issues of illegal searches, etc.

    Kudos to the TV station for broadcasting this. I’m sure they received a lot of pressure not to.

    Reply
  6. Mextli says:
    6/16/2010 at 9:25 am

    I have it on good authority that they carry long range laser guided tasers.

    Reply
  7. Two to the Head says:
    6/16/2010 at 9:27 am

    Uses include “Tactical”. Hmm. 15 lbs worth of payload. Could very easily carry a weapon and plenty of ammunition.

    Reply
  8. Improbus says:
    6/16/2010 at 9:42 am

    I bet this thing could be taken out by a much cheaper drone created by a hobbyist. The hard part would be finding the police drone.

    Reply
  9. ECA says:
    6/16/2010 at 9:58 am

    “we will DECIDE later if we are doing something illegal”
    “we will let the judges decide, AFTER we have used it and you can PROVE we used it against you”

    OK,
    Get your 30-30, 306, and lets see how long it lasts.
    And you TOO could be a redneck.

    Reply
  10. ECA says:
    6/16/2010 at 9:59 am

    BANG BANG.

    OOPS,
    I thought it was a DUCK..

    Reply
  11. J says:
    6/16/2010 at 10:01 am

    I think a propper response would be high powered directional EMP devices. That would fix a problem like this very fast.

    Reply
  12. SimonSezz says:
    6/16/2010 at 10:07 am

    They’re going to end up using these drones for giving speeding tickets. You know how sometimes you drive on the highway and there are perpendicular lines on the asphalt every 25 feet? That is so the highway patrol plane can see how fast you’re going and some states they are allowed to issue you a ticket, it’ll be in the mail. Well this will be a more high tech and probably cheaper version. You’re driving along going 10 mph over the speed limit, a couple days letter you open the mail and staring you in the face is a $250 ticket. Red light cameras, stop light cameras (in Chicago), rent-a-cops, etc. These police departments are making some serious dough, to protect and serve of course.

    Reply
  13. Tom Woolf says:
    6/16/2010 at 10:59 am

    I don’t really have a problem with the police using unmanned drones, as long as their use is transparent. Now that Houston’s tests have been outed, all tests should be in the open. In addition, weapons of any sort should NEVER EVER EVER BE CARRIED. I hope the “tactical” use the spokesperson was describing involved flying around a danger scene to let the police know what is happening, not carrying around that laser-guided taser…

    And if they are used in searches, I hope the courts are very strict in limiting their use, and in requiring subpoenas.

    Reply
  14. Brian says:
    6/16/2010 at 11:11 am

    considering that it can’t have as sophisticated loiter capabilities as a Predator or Global Hawk, it would be nearly useless for monitoring daily regional criminal activity. And houston is so urbanized at this point that I can’t see them using it for spotting expansive fields of pot. I have to guess that the intent is going to be primarily for traffic purposes, but whether or not that’s speeding tickets or tailing in lieu of high-speed chases is another matter.

    Reply
  15. Brian says:
    6/16/2010 at 11:14 am

    okay, scratch that about loiter capabilities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_ScanEagle

    Reply
  16. Fed.gov says:
    6/16/2010 at 11:22 am

    Damn, if we’d only had these for Waco, we coulda burned those kids alive on the first day!!!!

    Reply
  17. stopher2475 says:
    6/16/2010 at 11:30 am

    “# 6 Mextli said, on June 16th, 2010 at 9:25 am
    I have it on good authority that they carry long range laser guided tasers.”

    All I want in life is drones with frik’in tazers on their heads. Is that too much to ask?

    Reply
  18. Cap'nKangaroo says:
    6/16/2010 at 11:30 am

    It is from the fall of 2007. Uncle Dave posted it May 17 2010

    There has been recent pressure put on the FAA to allow more flights and to develop regulations to allow much more use of drones and UAVs.

    Just a thought, wouldn’t local TV news stations love these for their use. They would have to be much more cost-effective than a helicopter.

    Reply
  19. Noj says:
    6/16/2010 at 11:39 am

    I keep seeing this story pop up various places with the date filed off like it’s something that just happened.

    Tracking down the story on google (for ‘hpd drone’ stories on the web site mentioned in the video), this video is from NOVEMBER ****2007****

    http://www.click2houston.com/investigates/14659066/detail.html

    Not Dvorak’s fault, but I wish all bloggers / news organizations would consistently make the date visible in their stories.

    Actually, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for reposters to do so too… If you’re about to repost something and can’t figure out the original’s date, then that would be a red flag that you might be posting very old news.

    Reply
  20. ECA says:
    6/16/2010 at 12:01 pm

    Noj

    Agreed.
    I would love to have DATES and time posted on Every site, including LAST UPDATE.
    Love going to a site and its 10 years old, and you dont know it.

    Reply

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