"To be in on the ground floor of this is pretty exciting for us here in Montgomery County," Sheriff Tommy Gage said.
Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel said, "I'm tickled to death" about using the drone, pointing out that in his years of police work he could imagine countless incidents having ended more quickly and easily. "It's so simple in its design and the objectives, you just wonder why anyone would choose not to have it."
They're all just a little too giddy over this, if ya ask me.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in suburban Houston, Texas is preparing to launch operations with a newly received $300,000 Shadowhawk MK-III unmanned aerial vehicle, a small helicopter, paid for by grant money received by the Department of Homeland Security. The MK-III is a product marketed for both military and law enforcement applications.
Michael Buscher, chief executive officer of manufacturer Vanguard Defense Industries (is committed to the successful development and deployment of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in support of the military, local, state and federal law enforcement as well as the private sector), said this is the first local law enforcement agency to buy one of his units. "The aircraft has the capability to have a number of different systems on board. Mostly, for law enforcement, we focus on what we call less lethal systems," he said, including Tazers that can send a jolt to a criminal on the ground or a gun that fires bean bags known as a 'stun baton.' "You have a stun baton where you can actually engage somebody at altitude with the aircraft. A stun baton would essentially disable a suspect," he said.
The MK-III also has more lethal options available, capable of carrying either a 40mm or 37mm grenade launcher or 12 gauge shotgun with laser designator. Awesome.
New Police Drone Near Houston Could Carry Weapons - Houston News Story - KPRC Houston
They tout all the wunnerful wunnerful things they can do with it, including helping out with wildfires, finding lost children, assessing a scene where the SWAT team is facing a shooter, and for "hunting criminals who are running from police".
In 2007 this same police department was busted by KPRC TV while testing drones which violated the privacy of citizens, performed warrantless searches, and was all set to begin writing speeding tickets by proxy. The mayor scrapped that program, but only because of the publicity the investigative report garnered.
"No matter what we do in law enforcement, somebody's going to question it, but we're going to do the right thing, and I can assure you of that," Sheriff Tommy Gage said. "We're not going to use it to be invading somebody's privacy. It'll be used for situations we have with criminals."
In other words, "Trust us. We're from the government and we're here to help." <snort>
Between the political disarray of Congress, the chain of administrations that spend exorbitant amounts of money on things the people don't really need, the disturbingly high percentage of police officers who are little more than petty thugs with a gun and a badge, TSA groping children and hassling little old ladies in airports and performing unwarranted, "random" searches on the street, the media hype/sensationalism which constantly keeps the dumb and ignorant majority of the public distracted, dumb and ignorant, the incredibly skewed distribution of wealth and the fact that banking, insurance, health care and the government are now all the same thing, and an overall government with a fractured model of democracy that has it's hands in way too many cookie jars, I can say with great confidence that we are plunging rapidly into the abyss of a police state.
People should not have to fear the peace keepers, law makers, or individuals who hold powerful, public offices, yet the people do fear them. People willingly comply to even ridiculous requests out of fear. Police are intimidating peaceful protesters in the hopes they will become violent. Everything happening now is a perfect recipe for chaos, the beginnings of a violent revolt, and I doubt anybody who matters will realize it until it's too late.
Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel said, "I'm tickled to death" about using the drone, pointing out that in his years of police work he could imagine countless incidents having ended more quickly and easily. "It's so simple in its design and the objectives, you just wonder why anyone would choose not to have it."
They're all just a little too giddy over this, if ya ask me.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in suburban Houston, Texas is preparing to launch operations with a newly received $300,000 Shadowhawk MK-III unmanned aerial vehicle, a small helicopter, paid for by grant money received by the Department of Homeland Security. The MK-III is a product marketed for both military and law enforcement applications.
Michael Buscher, chief executive officer of manufacturer Vanguard Defense Industries (is committed to the successful development and deployment of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in support of the military, local, state and federal law enforcement as well as the private sector), said this is the first local law enforcement agency to buy one of his units. "The aircraft has the capability to have a number of different systems on board. Mostly, for law enforcement, we focus on what we call less lethal systems," he said, including Tazers that can send a jolt to a criminal on the ground or a gun that fires bean bags known as a 'stun baton.' "You have a stun baton where you can actually engage somebody at altitude with the aircraft. A stun baton would essentially disable a suspect," he said.
The MK-III also has more lethal options available, capable of carrying either a 40mm or 37mm grenade launcher or 12 gauge shotgun with laser designator. Awesome.
New Police Drone Near Houston Could Carry Weapons - Houston News Story - KPRC Houston
They tout all the wunnerful wunnerful things they can do with it, including helping out with wildfires, finding lost children, assessing a scene where the SWAT team is facing a shooter, and for "hunting criminals who are running from police".
In 2007 this same police department was busted by KPRC TV while testing drones which violated the privacy of citizens, performed warrantless searches, and was all set to begin writing speeding tickets by proxy. The mayor scrapped that program, but only because of the publicity the investigative report garnered.
"No matter what we do in law enforcement, somebody's going to question it, but we're going to do the right thing, and I can assure you of that," Sheriff Tommy Gage said. "We're not going to use it to be invading somebody's privacy. It'll be used for situations we have with criminals."
In other words, "Trust us. We're from the government and we're here to help." <snort>
Between the political disarray of Congress, the chain of administrations that spend exorbitant amounts of money on things the people don't really need, the disturbingly high percentage of police officers who are little more than petty thugs with a gun and a badge, TSA groping children and hassling little old ladies in airports and performing unwarranted, "random" searches on the street, the media hype/sensationalism which constantly keeps the dumb and ignorant majority of the public distracted, dumb and ignorant, the incredibly skewed distribution of wealth and the fact that banking, insurance, health care and the government are now all the same thing, and an overall government with a fractured model of democracy that has it's hands in way too many cookie jars, I can say with great confidence that we are plunging rapidly into the abyss of a police state.
People should not have to fear the peace keepers, law makers, or individuals who hold powerful, public offices, yet the people do fear them. People willingly comply to even ridiculous requests out of fear. Police are intimidating peaceful protesters in the hopes they will become violent. Everything happening now is a perfect recipe for chaos, the beginnings of a violent revolt, and I doubt anybody who matters will realize it until it's too late.
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