Police Departments Plan to Equip Drones with Rubber Bullets and Tear Gas

do they realize these things will be firing indiscriminately? with no one liable for potential injuries?

dehumanizing the process of protest and law enforcement, both sides, they are removing dissent allround.

How is this a bad thing?
I thought drones were designed to take out terrorists...you know, those evil guys who hate anyone who loves freedom. Don't YOU love feedom?

reply to post by yourmaker


No different than a police helicopter with a sniper

reply to post by rcanem


Nonsense. Drones were always intended to have a broad range of applications and were used for other purposes such as underwater discovery, space exploration, archaeological and geological surveying etc before they were widely used in the military.

As I said, a law enforcement drone is a natural evolution of the police helicopter. The drones coming into service with police will obviously not be armed with missiles and they will not fire rubber bullets.

Originally posted by QQXXw
reply to post by yourmaker

 

No different than a police helicopter with a sniper

Way different! Have you seen the collateral damage done in Pakistanand Yemen and such?! Granted, these drones we're talking about would only have rubber bullets (for now), as one person said earlier that the speed, increased velocity of the bullets would surely cause fatalities! Another poster referred that to increase the non-lethality, rubber bullets should be fired below the waist, away from vitals. Could a drone be that accurate? when flying at those speeds?

A helicopter with a sniper can hover, aim carefully and aim for a non-lethal area of a person.

reply to post by QQXXw


That is what this thread is all about, An idiot sheriff wanting to arm them with rubber bullets and tear gas?!? You don't happen to work at that sheriff's office do you?

Originally posted by QQXXw
reply to post by Nspekta

 

The most likely reason they are being introduced is as a replacement for police helicopters. Which is not a bad idea at all.

So they can potentially create an army of these that can hunt us down, with us defenseless to someone behind a computer desk controlling them all? We're already seeing protests that rival the police in power. Look at Montreal right now, police have the right to arrest people on many grounds, but don't want to push things further than they can handle. 200,000 people showed up and their still more worried about controlling the crowds than potentially looking at education as a value that the citizens just might hold very strongly, or looking at cutting funding elsewhere. I'm not agreeing with how the protesters are doing things, but I think it should set off some red flags to any just government that claims to represent the interests of the people.

Now, when you get into having 30,000 of these able to reconvene at any time, essentially impossible (and not to mention pointless) to fight off, it just seems completely unfair over the people. Cowardly even. They could control entire cities of protesters without even a single person at risk. As much as I respect police officers for what they risk to protect us, having their lives on the line at least keeps the government accountable.It's much easier for the population to ignore droned riot control than officers being injured or dying because the government is putting them in situations where riot control is not the answer.

I swear this world is coming to a point where we're even willing to go into full-out martial law just to make sure our cozy little corner of the world, with all its luxuries and services, goes uninterrupted at any cost. Riots are not the problem, riots are a symptom of a problem. They're trying to fix the nausea without even looking at the infection (so to speak). As much as I don't like anyone acting in anger, I'm actually glad to see people standing up for what they value for a change. I'd hate to see a world where we are too afraid to riot.

EDIT: That wasn't all directed at you, you just kinda gave me a starting point. I didn't realize I had so much to say

Originally posted by sk0rpi0n
How is this a bad thing?

I thought drones were designed to take out terrorists...you know, those evil guys who hate anyone who loves freedom. Don't YOU love feedom?

I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not, but I've come to realize there is a very fine line between terrorist and activist, mostly depends what your against, and if the gov likes your views that day or not
Control does not = freedom, in fact quite the opposite. Domestic control through fear is no different than foreign control doing the same thing, though in the news it's the difference between good and evil

Originally posted by yourmaker
do they realize these things will be firing indiscriminately? with no one liable for potential injuries?

dehumanizing the process of protest and law enforcement, both sides, they are removing dissent allround.

The dehumanizing was also a concern for me as well. The government can be as sick and twisted as they want with no guilt, shame or remorse, and will always be able to label it as a "scandal" which gets pushed aside, the only solution. Luckily, individuals have much more of a conscience, and have the ability to walk away from their duty if they don't like what they see. Particularly the good, honest officers who want to do good in this world. I have no faith for any powers that be, but my faith in humanity has never been stronger

reply to post by DudeCuda


The core problem with your argument is that you cannot point out how these drones would be any different from police helicopters. A police helicopter can and does assist with riot control and general surveillance and yet I am sure that you would agree with me that police helicopters are not a threat to your personal freedoms.

reply to post by Nspekta


You also seem to miss the point. A helicopter gunship can do a whole lot more damage than a military drone but the fact that police helicopters are out there flying every day does not seem to be a problem for most people. You really need to stop thinking of drones as military weapons and start thinking of them more as useful machines.

Originally posted by QQXXw
reply to post by Nspekta

 

You also seem to miss the point. A helicopter gunship can do a whole lot more damage than a military drone but the fact that police helicopters are out there flying every day does not seem to be a problem for most people. You really need to stop thinking of drones as military weapons and start thinking of them more as useful machines.

edit on 25-5-2012 by QQXXw because: (no reason given)

Agreed, a Gunship can cause a whole hell of a lot of damage.. it can also kill randoms and is not incredibly accurate. However, there is more of a human element involved. A drone, although flown by a human (right now, although they do have autonomous vehicles in service already!), is basically an entity on its own. It could use its rubber bullets against protesters, but how accurate and how moral and ethical is it? At least with a gunship, the pilot/gunner can be more accurate, have compassion and empathy. An autonomous drone kills without conscious. And if its not autonomous, the dude sitting in the nice leather chair far far away from the action feels less about it cause he's essentially just watching it on TV. The drone aspect removes more of the human part of the equation. They are desensitized because they aren;t in any danger, they fly, kill, and then go get a coffee and talk NBA at the watercooler during their breaks.

Drones ARE Military weapons, as are hlicopter gunships... so maybe you are the one missing the point?!

Originally posted by QQXXw
reply to post by DudeCuda

 

The core problem with your argument is that you cannot point out how these drones would be any different from police helicopters. A police helicopter can and does assist with riot control and general surveillance and yet I am sure that you would agree with me that police helicopters are not a threat to your personal freedoms.

But if their essentially the same thing, why do it? Cheaper? I'd rather see the government pay up the ass, and hire more highly paid trained professionals, create a few more jobs. There seems to be no reason to make this change other than making it more easily accessible. Sadly, I don't even trust the government with such a privilege against it's citizens. Grants more power and freedoms where it's not really needed.

reply to post by Nspekta


I called this a few months ago.
I figured they would start with LRADS and move up to tear gas, etc. I don't see how they could use rubber bullets though as those are only supposed to be shot at people's legs.