Police employ Predator drone spy planes on home front

Gee what a surprise. Another step towards total police state. Now they are unarmed... but it only takes an order and boom, they are armed.

Police employ Predator drone spy planes on home front

Unmanned aircraft from an Air Force base in North Dakota help local police with surveillance, raising questions that trouble privacy advocates.

But that was just the start. Local police say they have used two unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base to fly at least two dozen surveillance flights since June. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration have used Predators for other domestic investigations, officials said.

"We don't use [drones] on every call out," said Bill Macki, head of the police SWAT team in Grand Forks. "If we have something in town like an apartment complex, we don't call them."

The drones belong to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which operates eight Predators on the country's northern and southwestern borders to search for illegal immigrants and smugglers. The previously unreported use of its drones to assist local, state and federal law enforcement has occurred without any public acknowledgment or debate.

Well ain't that fun. What a transparent government you got there...

But former Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), who sat on the House homeland security intelligence subcommittee at the time and served as its chairwoman from 2007 until early this year, said no one ever discussed using Predators to help local police serve warrants or do other basic work.

Using Predators for routine law enforcement without public debate or clear legal authority is a mistake, Harman said.

A mistake? It's much more serious than that.

But eh, it's alright, it's to help police. I mean, it could also be helped to find a missing child! Surrender your rights citizen, you will be safer!

You couple that with the NDAA/S.1867 and you got a serious case of tyranny.

I find the part where it states they've flown over a dozen unmanned drones since June quite interesting. Makes you wonder where else they are using them and how long they have been in use.

I really don't mind the idea of law enforcement using drones. It has it's place. After having lived in places where it would seem they call a helicopter in for almost everything at all hours, a drone seems rather preferable if asked.

Although...not an adapted Predator or anything else from the military line. They are designed for specific things, they do them well, and none of them have business over an American city full of civilians and governed by the Constitution.

There are some very solid civilian survey and professional quad copter configurations and easily had in the 5-10 thousand dollar range. A real bargain given what departments and agencies spend on equipment. They don't have dual use purposes though or the designed capability to do MUCH more than simply give overhead video. That's the whole point.

In the long term it is far cheaper and much more effective than other methods of surveillance used in the past.

Why shouldn't law enforcement deploy the latest and greatest when and where they can?

It is the enemies within our borders now that pose the greatest threat to our national security... And it will only become more of a threat as time goes on, and foreign conflicts intensify, and escalate.

Or maybe your paranoia is valid, and it really is all about YOU!

reply to post by Fractured.Facade


Maybe because it is intrusive on my personal life...Maybe because I don't like the government having so much power over my privacy and personal life?

Or maybe because it is un-ethical to do it, considering the public doesn't know anything about it. At least ask the public, and control them to accept it. AT LEAST do this, do not just put it out there and say "Hey now we can see your every moves...you know, in case a child is lost".

The police/military cooperation is just twisted mentality. Peace keepers? My fuc*** ass!

reply to post by Gab1159


News Flash!

Privacy died decades ago... If you think you have it, or are entitled to it, you are mistaken.

If you have nothing to hide, are not involved in illegal activity, or the subject of interest for investigators then you have nothing to fear.

Would you rather they deploy drones and other invasive tactics without any public knowledge, so that you can continue to live in a fantasy world where you have complete privacy?

The government, law enforcement and other agencies have no interest in you, unless you have given them a reason to... They really don't have the time, or funding to run surveillance ops on well over 300,000,000 citizens all the time, without cause or reason... In this day and age, your privacy is much more likely to be invaded by marketers and ID thieves than anyone working in any capacity in government or law enforcement.

But it is much more fun to live in fear of them, and spread it around.

So, carry on.

Combine the new Detainment legislation, anticpatory democracy involving the Information Awareneness Office (or whatever new name they came up with to mask it) and predator drones chasing American citizens, sounds like 1984 stuff to me.

reply to post by Fractured.Facade


I think you are mistaken in your assessment. I think that they would make examples of people to instill fear and control. Set those drones out on society at intervals like in Minority Report where everybody just stops what they are doing while the spiders(or drones) take an iris scan for biometric ID.
Very creepy if you ask me.

I think Minority Report was just a few years ahead of the times.

Although I am usually very suspect of police encroachment on our liberties I do somewhat agree with this tactic. I am currently living in North Dakota and work in the oil fields around Williston and Watford City and have seen first hand the rampant crime that is going on in these places. I started working out here several months ago and my first job offer was in Williston which is in the heart of the oil patch and the heart of the major crime wave that is beginning to grow out of control.

I was just reading an article in the North Plains examiner that was discussing the increase in crime here and let me tell you it is serious. According to the latest statistics the number of calls for police in 2010 were about 650 for the whole year, as of November of this year that number had grown to well over 5,000. The crimes vary from battery's/bar fights to drug dealing and prostitution as well as DUI and the local law enforcement is severly overwhelmed.

There was a lady a couple of months ago that saw 3 men staring into her bedroom window and called police only to be told that they were busy on other calls and would not be able to respond for another 45 minutes to an hour. Finally after calling back several times a deputy from a neighboring county was sent out to handle the call. The only reason that I agree with the use of unmanned drones is because the police are stretched thin and are unable to hire any additional officers at this time due to the lack of housing for anyone to move into from out of state as well as the fact that a trained law enforcement officer can make 3x a normal police salary by working security for the oil companies.

I moved here from Florida and I have to admit that I was glad to leave that state because of the constant police state that we lived under in Florida. Sadly due to the low-life criminals that are intent on breaking the laws we are now seeing more measures being taken by the law enforcement up here. Having said that I will be the first to say that the law enforcement in this state are some of the nicest people I have ever met, and anyone that reads back through my posts since I have been a member on here will know that I am no fan of living in a police state or of hypocritical law enforcement.

This topic is a very slippery slope because while we do need more enforcement action to provide for the public good, situations such as this can very easily be transformed into a tyrannical situation if allowed to go on unchecked. This is why i am a firm believer in the saying that "I would rather have a gun in my hand than a cop on the phone". If we were not so inundated with laws and were allowed to defend ourselves from the criminals of society there would be much fewer criminals walking the street and more in the ground. However when we are not allowed to defend ourselves and are forced to rely on the government to do so for us, then we become subjects of the state all in the name of public safety.

Most of the law enforcement that i have met up here are not concewrned with infringing on the rights of the citizens, only with doing their job to the best of the ability and ensuring that the citizens are safe. Because of the immense crime in the oil patch up here I decided to move my family to Bismarck and endure the 2.5 hour drive to work everyday because it is really unsafe in some areas near the patch. If the police have to us drones sometimes to do there job to the best of there ability then I am somewhat for it, I just hope they don't abuse the act.