Drones over Los Angeles: new era in civilian monitoring

[JoAILES]

The mini fliers could be used to pursue humans at night - almost invisibly and noiseless.
Critics see the Orwell monitoring state coming more near.

The technical details of the “SkySeers”: The 2.3 kilogram light aircraft is propelled by an electric motor and flies with relatively modest 50 kilometers per hour. A camera tiltable in all directions is able to see everything at night by infrared technique and low light reinforcement.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's department, which wants to use the drone shortly, they are keen on getting the drone in to operate in secret.

There is an enormous cost advantage by usng this in stead of helicopters.
It can be folded up, to fit comfortably into the trunk of a police car.
Deployable within a few minutes. The onboard battery permits a flying time of 70 minutes, according to data of the manufacturer.

While each of the 18 helicopters in service at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department cost between three and five million dollar, the “SkySeer” is only about 25.000 to 30,000 dollar, without mentioning the savings in costs of fuel, maintenance and personnel etc.

[ElcoB]

Pictures of Skyseer demo in Los Angeles

[Stepha380]

If they are quieter than helicos why not ? The worst in L.A. (or Las Vegas) being all the tourists doing an helicopter tour just to check if it is like in the movies.

Walking downtown L.A. in the middle of the skyscrapers is so much better.

[SN30952]

I read somewhere the sherif's project was 'shot' down. Maybe temporarely?

[SN30952]

Sheriff's droning publicity stunt crashed.
It wasn't just the crash landing of a drone .....
It was the Federal Aviation Administration's objection that the drones had never been cleared for takeoff.

Euh, given the primitive nature of the drones' technology...

[earthman]

Next thing will be robot pigeons with cameras for eyes, indistinguishable from real pigeons, watching you all day. Or perhaps they already are, and we haven't been told yet....

[jan_olieslagers]

Next thing will be robot pigeons with cameras for eyes, indistinguishable from real pigeons, watching you all day. Or perhaps they already are, and we haven't been told yet....

So that's why my dinner tasted so bad?

[nwa757]

What do you expect from Los Angeles? Sometimes I feel that Californians have lost their minds...

...And this is coming from an American.