More Police And Fire Departments Adding Drones To Their Toolkit
Fire fighters and police officers have been continuing to adopt the use of drones, to help them with mission specific tasks which are allegedly supposed to enhance public safety. Several departments are already using drones and they've assisted fire fighters and officers with a variety of tasks.
From analyzing fires and calculating the best and most direct route for travel, to looking for and helping to chase down suspects for the police, authorities insist that the use of drones hasn't been for random surveillance purposes.
It isn't just in the U.S. either, police agencies and fire departments in various countries have been increasingly moving to adopt drones and put them to use in their everyday activities.
One law enforcement expert from Wilmington, Sgt. Ringle, insists that the drones might be employed to help assist surveillance efforts for various special events etc, but that they aren't to be used to target specific people or to cruise around looking for violations.
Those who've tried the drones say that it's been saving them time and a lot of money. There are now dozens of different departments that have moved to add drones to their toolkit.
Privacy advocates have frequently voiced their concerns for the growing use of drones, and legal experts have insisted that what might help to alleviate those concerns is having the right safeguards in place to prevent the misuse of those drones and the data that they collect.
For areas like San Diego, it's reported that drones have been used to help take photos of homicide scenes, as well as video footage, to assist looking for missing people, and helping out the SWAT team.
When fire fighters have had difficulty locating the spot where a fire had first started, they've been able to turn to drones to help them. And now there are many fire departments that are training to use drones to help them save lives.
But whether or not they can provide some valuable assistance to fire fighters or law enforcement, it's still going to impact their success whether or not the public is ready to accept them. And thus far, many surveys have shown that a great deal of the public are still wary about seeing drones flying around their neighborhoods engaged in everything from taxi service to food delivery and much more. Whether or not the public might be ready though, law enforcement officials have previously suggested that drones are going to play a big role in the future of policing.
Pics:
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Drone is a new technology and very smart and useful technology...
That's pretty yuck.
We need serious limitations on these.
Drones are great. The police etc would be dumb to not use them. Not that I am for mass surveillance.
Good post as usual @doitvoluntarily
This sucks. I hate the time we live in haha. (Or maybe not totally, because there is Steemit)
I'm a huge advocate for privacy / general anarchist but to be honest I do support the use of them for fire departments. Obviously, that support gives them a loophole to do whatever they want with them. But, like you said, they're here whether we like it or not :(
I have an opinion formed on this subject, the tool is great and it will continue to be as long as they use it as it is.
Thank you very much dear friend @doitvoluntarily for sharing this news
The fact of the matter is that government has lost trust of the people so many times that it is a bit appalling. Frankly if people didn't question the government and even the state police and fire departments I would be worried.
Some may say whatever they want to but I feel that raising questions about this is not only natural but also a responsibility of any concerned citizen. I have seen more than one video of army UAV's being misused - police and fire departments don't even run as tight a ship as army does.
Maybe the drones help a little at the time of a crime or a specific case, maybe it is a positive solution.
very nice post
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Using drons in police will be very great work
I've considered that it might be worth learning to use monofiliment wire to make sure drones cannot peer through our windows, for example. It's the same strategy used to keep herons from landing by fish ponds and eating all the goldfish.
There are some definite upsides to departments being able to use drones for certain tasks - I can see where fire departments in particular could really use them - but the spy potential and even kill potential is off the charts. We already know these things can be used for assassinations. The question is...how to make any kind of regulations governing their use?