Drone may be coming to Miami-Dade

DORAL, Fla. (WSVN) -- A new piece of technology may soon be coming to South Florida, but is already raising concerns from residents.

The Miami-Dade Police Department recently finalized a deal to buy a drone, which is an unmanned plane equipped with cameras. Drones have been used for years in Iraq and Afghanistan in the war against terror.

Many residents are concerned that the new technology will violate their privacy.

MDPD purchased a drone named T-hawk from defense firm Honeywell to assist with the department's Special Response Team's operations. The 20-pound drone can fly for 40 minutes, reach heights of 10,500 feet and cruise in the air at 46 miles an hour. "It gives us a good opportunity to have an eye up there. Not a surveilling eye, not a spying eye. Let's make the distinction. A surveilling eye to help us to do the things we need to do, honestly, to keep people safe," said Miami-Dade Police Director James Loftus.

The ACLU is one of the organizations that is concerned about the drone that may soon be coming to Miami-Dade County. Howard Simon, the executive director of the ACLU of Florida approves of the drones but also advocates strict regulation of the drones. "Technology: there's no reason not to embrace technology if it makes the streets safer, if it helps the police. The concern is, though, that every new technology also has within it the capacity to threaten people's privacy," he said.

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21003198189967/#

Then move on to fly over the whole country. Ready at a moments notice to zap any "suspicious" activity.

LAPD has had a fleet of helicopters buzzing around the city for years.
Unless this one starts shooting missiles or something I don't see much difference.

They can peek into windows on the 23rd story of buildings. They can be deployed relatively unnoticed.

This is creepy as hell.

model airplanes with small cameras, fly high and slow and are so small they are almost invisible. I can see they have some use for police, but in a very limited capacity.

IDF uses some very small mini-micro dronese, like the Mosquito, about the size of a frizbee: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3571261.stm


mark

Given that Americans now have little understanding of, or appreciation for, their civil liberties, is it not inevitable that these drones will be approved?

Or that the next generation of drones will be embraced, ones that can maybe hover outside your window, or see through walls to check what you're up to?

IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE, then why would any patriotic citizen object to then saving taxpayers millions of dollars by installing low-cost cameras right in their house, which will reduce the need for expensive drones?

I think drones are just one more inevitable step in making America safe and free for fascism.