By Nancy Flake The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is waiting for the right moment to use a drone it purchased last fall for around $500,000. A crew of MCSO officers who will operate the Shadowhawk MK-II, an unmanned aerial vehicle designed and manufactured by Vanguard Defense Industries in Spring, has been certified, Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel said. They are still...
By Johnathon Fitzpatrick Seattle Weekly Flying drones have become commonplace in the skies of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia, but now domesticated drones are starting to fill American skies. Seattle Police are among the first departments in the nation to use the high-tech surveillance tool only recently considered science fiction. In the 2002 series finale of TV show “Dark Angel,” actress...
There will be no doubt many more reports like this one from Houston, the real applications for day to day Policing are a little doubtful. Search and Rescue yes, but in a fast moving chase or somewhere stealth needs to be deployed we think not. sUAS cannot stand off and loiter like their bigger cousins. In the UK Police...
By: Chris Bieri, Grand Forks Herald Deputies expect FAA clearance to use two aircraft in May The Grand Forks Sheriff’s Department is about to start investigating in rarified air. The department will be one of just seven law enforcement offices nationwide developing an unmanned aircraft systems program, according to special deputy Al Frazier. The department will be one of just...
It was the first law enforcement drone put to use in North Carolina, mimicking the very battlefield technology used to fire laser-guided missiles into camps of rebelling tribesmen in Afghanistan and to plot the area surrounding Osama Bin Laden’s compound in suburban Pakistan. In early 2006, the CyberBug drew national attention — and scorn — for its clandestine reconnaissance...
The Mesa County Sheriff’s Department has purchased a small drone aircraft for $14,000 to use in investigations and in search and rescue operations. Sheriff’s officers demonstrated the 4-foot-long, 9-pound vehicle Friday. The plane can stay airborne for an hour, fly at an altitude of 400 feet and send video and infrared images to ground controllers. “If we get the...
Using a Grand Forks Predator to help in a civil arrest may have opened up a can of worms for rule makers in the USA. Harley Geiger Policy Counsel from the Center for Democracy and Technology wrote to sUAS News to underline CDT’s position. Some sensible stuff here. As you are aware, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) intends to issue...
This one caused a wry smile from Patrick and I, we have several FOIA’s in and yep they take ages to respond. Government Withholds Information on Drone Flight Authorizations San Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit today against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), demanding data on certifications and authorizations the agency has issued for the...
Seems like the recent privacy concerns raised by ACLU and others may have given Yavapai County the jitters. Scott Orr The Daily Courier PRESCOTT – The unmanned aerial vehicle program approved by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors in November is hung up on some technical issues, Board Chairman Tom Thurman said. At the board’s meeting Tuesday, two...
By: Kristen Daum, INFORUM FARGO – Law enforcement officials in the Fargo-Moorhead area said they haven’t used unmanned surveillance aircraft to search for wanted criminals, but they aren’t closing the door to the idea. North Dakota’s federal lawmakers said they also support it as an option when necessary under unique circumstances. But civil rights activists want strict standards put in...
