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alp227

(32,025 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 02:29 PM Oct 2014

State police using helium balloon to find accused cop killer

Source: Scranton Times-Tribune

The Pennsylvania State Police are using a large helium balloon with built in surveillance technology to try and find accused cop killer Eric Matthew Frein.

The large Mylar balloon is “very similar to a weather balloon in size and operation” and provides similar levels aerial surveillance as some other aviation equipment but at a fraction of the cost, said Trooper Thomas Kelly, a state police spokesman, in an email.

“It is also silent as compared to helicopters,” Trooper Kelly said.

The Ohio Department of Transportation donated the balloon.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/state-police-using-helium-balloon-to-find-accused-cop-killer-1.1778012

18 replies

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Highlight:

State police using helium balloon to find accused cop killer (Original Post) alp227 Oct 2014 OP

I seriously cannot believe JustAnotherGen Oct 2014 #1

He's in a heavily wooded area of the Poconos. PADemD Oct 2014 #6

I hope so! JustAnotherGen Oct 2014 #10

Maybe he has some sympathizers helping to hide him.... Blue_Tires Oct 2014 #12

There are more of them? JustAnotherGen Oct 2014 #17

That's just a cover story Feral Child Oct 2014 #2

The mystery surrounding this guy reminds me of D.B. Cooper. chrisa Oct 2014 #3

There's a good article in the L.A. Times about this (link below) C Moon Oct 2014 #4

Thank you. From that article... jtuck004 Oct 2014 #8

Yeah, except jerkstore90210 Oct 2014 #9

Sounds like you are much closer and probably know better than the author. It really jtuck004 Oct 2014 #11

Thanks. This paragraph here: freshwest Oct 2014 #14

Notice there are no UFO's in the area... Javaman Oct 2014 #5

Wait... They're unidentified. How can it be proven these sky-high objects don't exist? freshwest Oct 2014 #16

or just maybe... Javaman Oct 2014 #18

I guess they'll have an idea where he is when he shoots the thing down. n/t woodsprite Oct 2014 #7

My first thought, too. Except... Someone else might do it first. freshwest Oct 2014 #15

Can you remotely steer a helium balloon? mainer Oct 2014 #13

JustAnotherGen

(31,828 posts)

1. I seriously cannot believe

Reply to alp227 (Original post)

Mon Oct 27, 2014, 02:32 PM

Oct 2014

That they have yet to catch this guy.

PADemD

(4,482 posts)

6. He's in a heavily wooded area of the Poconos.

Reply to JustAnotherGen (Reply #1)

Mon Oct 27, 2014, 04:11 PM

Oct 2014

There are supposedly 14,000 hunting cabins, any one of which he could be hiding in. Now that the leaves are falling, it should be easier to catch him.

JustAnotherGen

(31,828 posts)

10. I hope so!

Reply to PADemD (Reply #6)

Mon Oct 27, 2014, 05:25 PM

Oct 2014

Quite familiar with the area - but you know . . . We have wanted signs of him all over Western Hunterdon County NJ.

Blue_Tires

(55,445 posts)

12. Maybe he has some sympathizers helping to hide him....

Reply to JustAnotherGen (Reply #1)

Mon Oct 27, 2014, 05:31 PM

Oct 2014

JustAnotherGen

(31,828 posts)

17. There are more of them?

Reply to Blue_Tires (Reply #12)

Tue Oct 28, 2014, 05:25 AM

Oct 2014

Oh dear.

Feral Child

(2,086 posts)

2. That's just a cover story

Reply to alp227 (Original post)

Mon Oct 27, 2014, 02:41 PM

Oct 2014

for the UFO sightings.

chrisa

(4,524 posts)

3. The mystery surrounding this guy reminds me of D.B. Cooper.

Reply to alp227 (Original post)

Mon Oct 27, 2014, 02:42 PM

Oct 2014

Maybe not as enigmatic, but still mysterious. Just vanished, and nobody knows wtf happened to him. The difference is, it's very likely that this guy will eventually be found.

C Moon

(12,213 posts)

4. There's a good article in the L.A. Times about this (link below)

Reply to alp227 (Original post)

Mon Oct 27, 2014, 03:17 PM

Oct 2014

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-frein-manhunt-20141027-story.html#page=1

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)

8. Thank you. From that article...

Reply to C Moon (Reply #4)

Mon Oct 27, 2014, 04:46 PM

Oct 2014

...
"Think about the math," said Patten, head of North Carolina's Tactical Woodland Operations School. "A human being occupies about 9 square feet. There are 42,000 square feet per acre. They are searching about 115,000 acres. It's just much harder than anybody realizes."

Patten, a retired law enforcement ranger for the National Park Service, was involved in the search for Eric Rudolph, who killed two people in antiabortion and anti-gay bombings in Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala., in the 1990s. Rudolph survived in the southern Appalachians — part of the same mountain range in which Frein is thought to be hiding — for five years before being caught searching for food in a trash bin.

"Eric [Rudolph] had planned," Patten said. "He was smart and he was good in the woods. He and Frein have a lot in common."

jerkstore90210

(14 posts)

9. Yeah, except

Reply to jtuck004 (Reply #8)

Mon Oct 27, 2014, 05:03 PM

Oct 2014

The cops have claimed to have spotted him several times. The police they have up here are incompetent, to say the least. They spend more time at the Mountainhome Diner then they do combing the woods.

This is a pure push for overtime, they are not even pretending to search for Frein. They are setting up illegal roadblocks to catch DUIs and weed smokers, not because they have any idea Frein is in a car.

Frein is long gone. He'll be found after running a stop sign in Armpit Texas two years from now. These fat ridiculous police will never find him.

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)

11. Sounds like you are much closer and probably know better than the author. It really

Reply to jerkstore90210 (Reply #9)

Mon Oct 27, 2014, 05:29 PM

Oct 2014

wouldn't surprise me - they had a citizen spotting a while back. She saw a dirty or wild-eyed guy with a rifle. That's not much, especially when we have whole groups of them marching around the country. A loose few are certainly out there. Loose.

On the other hand, if you are a cop anywhere, EVERYONE dresses up like a jack-booted thug now, all weapon-ized and hooded and...everything.

But how many times to they get to call in The Dirigible?