Notably, DPS at one point was using unarmed drones both along the border and elsewhere in the state, but according to the Electronic Frontier Founation DPS recently canceled its drone program because of maintenance issues with the high-tech craft. (I'd not seen that widely reported.) DPS shut down its program, they told EFF, because, "drones did not offer Texas significant advantages over the agency’s existing airplanes and helicopters."
Despite costs and crashes, though, the Obama Administration is pushing ahead to approve drone use by many more civilian agencies on US soil by this summer, reports IT World:
Expensive, crash prone or not, unmanned aerial vehicles will become far more common in the U.S. following legislation signed by President Obama ordering the FAA to approve more UAVs for law enforcement and fire/emergency uses beginning in 90 days.If the Congress and the Obama Administration are pushing drones, might a Texas Legislature that last year battled the TSA over intrusive personal searches decide to regulate them, and if so would they have any authority to do so? For that matter, do cities have authority to regulate low-flying commercial drones, or is that strictly an FAA responsibility? ¿Quien sabe?
The FAA has restricted use of drones domestically due to concerns that UAVs flown by untrained operators would become a hazard to other aircraft and danger to people on the ground.
The Obama order gives the FAA until Sept. 30, 2015 to make legal drones that are lighter than 4.4 pounds and fly lower than 400 feet.
They won't just be for police, though. The legislation doesn't limit the uses for which its drones can be used, which will almost certainly make life much easier for paparazzi, stalkative exes and hordes of the intrusive, nosy and curious.
It will also make life much less private for a population struggling with the loss of privacy online and, very possibly, not yet ready to give it up in their backyards to crash-prone, high-maintenance r/c helicopters that may be relatives of the Predators and GlobalHawks of the world, but without the reliability, trained operators and reason for poking their noses into someone else's business in the first place.
We seem to be at a "leap before you look" moment regarding drone technology. I'm sure there are benefits, but it looks like we'll be finding out the detriments the hard way.
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9 comments:
I think you read the IT World article wrong. I read it that the SWAT vehicle was being loaded with weapons, not the drone.
As a long time resident of Montgomery County I AM VERY AFRAID of those that are here to "protect and serve" My alarm grows daily.
These people are out of control.
thanks wygit, I fixed it in the post. good catch.
Too much spare time + Too much money + Too much power = Charlie Foxtrot Law Enforcement
Do we really want Barney Fife flying drones over our homes?
So, as this is an unmanned drone, if someone engages it for flying over their land (say a 600 acre spread somewhere), would the LEO then use the armament on board to engage and 'neutralize' the 'threat'? Or are these expendable to the point of not killing people they are not already hunting for?
Why was the swatcar being loaded with weapons?
These the same morons who previously said they can close Federal Airspace? I'd bet the FAA thinks differently.
PS- I flew for Customs and CBP in my former life.
Drone 54, Drone 54 where are you. Come in Drone 54...
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