If a U.S. domestic police drone kills an innocent bystander during a demonstration by miscreants who lack the proper respect for their betters, then he wasn't innocent or standing by. If you are between 20 and 50 while being male, you are guilty.

"Domestic and foreign policy are two sides of the same coin: chickens come home to roost."

And we all accept collateral damage don't we?
We are not seen as people...just objects that can be damaged.

it will be sooner rather than later when blade runner happens and we all go mad trying to find food and water.

Or tasers? Or billy clubs? Technology will go forward. In general it has improved things in all areas.

Excessive force happens frequently, and removing the officer from the situation will increase the frequency.

They barely view it as harming a human being now, they certainly won't once violence becomes pushbutton. They'll view it as "Beat the Dirty Hippie That Hates Rich People: The Video Game".

Technology has improved things in all areas in general, but just because technology in general is a good thing doesn't mean all advances in technology are good.

Edited to add: We're not there yet, of course, and I don't know if we'll get there. It's also possible it would remove the option of lethal force entirely. The BS concerns of officer safety would vanish once no actual officers were present, so it's possible lethal force would decrease while "less-than-lethal" increases.

I agree that drones should not be armed but I don't think that's an imminent possibility based on the article.

people have accepted the fact that we use drones in America?

""I agree that drones should not be armed but I don't think that's an imminent possibility based on the article"

.....he thinks they will be used to find missing children and that will justify the drones. He says facial recognition + drones will be useful for civil purposes and the ACLU will prevent any excess.

He's deluded.

I agree, he is delusional.

Groups Concerned Over Arming Of Domestic Drones

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – With the use of domestic drones increasing, concern has not just come up over privacy issues, but also over the potential use of lethal force by the unmanned aircraft.

Drones have been used overseas to target and kill high-level terror leaders and are also being used along the U.S.-Mexico border in the battle against illegal immigration. But now, these drones are starting to be used domestically at an increasing rate.

The Federal Aviation Administration has allowed several police departments to use drones across the U.S. They are controlled from a remote location and use infrared sensors and high-resolution cameras.

Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in Texas told The Daily that his department is considering using rubber bullets and tear gas on its drone.

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/05/23/groups-concerned-over-arming-of-domestic-drones/

high powered hunting rifles, if they arm the drones and start using them against the citizenry in this country.
Those drones emit heat and noise also. A parabolic mike and infrared sensors are cheap enough to come by. If they are firing rubber bullets, they can't be that far away.

Which has it's own benefits to them.

Also they'll emit RF freqs, which an freq. scanner could watch. With an Adruino and some free time, one could turn your inexpensive sensor array into a targeting system, which when combined with a cheap sat. dish control and a HERF refit (violating several FCC laws and a variety of NS laws) would be pretty effective and cheap way to knock anything smaller than a Cesna out of the sky.

Not that I recommend this - I'm afraid to even make one to experiment with, there's some radiation that'll burn ya - but I'm just saying. The Drone Wars are coming, if they keep this up. If they are too cowardly to show their faces when they violate our 4th Amendment rights, how much respect do their robo-cops really deserve?

That being said, using remote weaponry in an urban environment, even non-lethal types- is a recipe for disaster.

Sarcasm.

18th century weapons will not work against 21st century drones. In fact, shooting a shotgun would justify the use of a lethal weapon by a drone. The only people who would be hurt would be the person with the shotgun and everyone surrounding him/her.

The only way to deal with drones is to ban them. Ban them entirely.

First time it happens, I will be watching for a Supreme Court decision giving humans the same rights as corporations.

The repression of free speech and assembly is getting worse.

Each drone carrying a cartridge of and mechanism for firing a single .22 caliber bullet.

You know, in case they need protection.

PB

The drones should be controlled by autonomous software, not by human operators. Then nothing could possibly go wrong.

hic....go wrong...

hic....go wrong...

hic....go wrong...

hic....go wrong...

. . . . . or maybe not.

Oh you know that day's coming.

PB

Why not...a landmine? I mean, put a big POLICE sticker on a landmine and anyone who steps on it was clearly assaulting the officer, the landmine reacted in self-defense using deadly force and bob's your uncle.

PB

Drone industry gives money to politicians.
Politicians place orders to buy drones with your money from the public treasury.
Drone makers pocket the profits and also buy some more politicians.
Its the circle of drone life.

Vattel

DDR had nothing of the tools, the US have to their disposal today, to quell demonstrations.. In fact I believe MR Erich Honecker (the leader of DDR at the fall of the Berlin wall) would have getting a wet willy if he had know what tools the US law enforcement have to their disposal today.. And I also believe the infamous Stasi would have enjoyed getting their hands on the new tools too

Diclotican

There must be a reason this is being done on such a tight schedule.
Whatever the schedule, only we can stop all of this shit.

The central question of the Bill of Rights. Remember, those things were put in to rein in coercion, not make it easier.

-- Mal

I know in our town it just wouldn't happen, or it might happen once then the bunch responsible would be apologizing and resigning and the program would be scuttled.

It takes only a tiny sliver of imagination to see that the first use of the Armed Drone will be scrutinized. The second will be less so, and after three, or four, nobody will notice. Much as TASERS are used today. In the 1980's Taser use was very carefully examined by the press and those with oversight. Today, the Police zap a man or woman and they die, well, it's unfortunate, but you know, we had no choice and we followed policy.

POLICY. That is going to be the trick. After it's first use there will be policy governing it's use. Some radical nut job like David Koresh that even the Repugs want to shut the hell up will be first. Somebody with a bomb on a bridge, next to a school bus load of nuns and orphans. Imagine the scene, I can. Then along comes the magic drone, disabling the baddie and preventing him from slaughtering the poor orphans and those saintly Nuns.

Can't you hear the arguments? Can't we all agree that in extreme circumstances where the lives of innocent children are at risk we should be able to use the drone. If you oppose, well you want children and women to die don't you?

Next thing you know, every police officer will have a drone hovering nearby, originally to show the court the actions of this sainted defender of the weak and helpless. Now it's armed with a rubber bullet, tear gas, taser, and in the case of a riot, a belt fed machine gun.

Wait, because I am old enough to remember the Liberals of the 80's telling everyone that nobody would really be dumb enough to let the cops have TASER's and pretend they were non lethal. I remember when nobody thought the cops would ever be given a metal nightstick, the wood was bad enough wasn't it?

So why wouldn't they get a terminator drone to protect us from all those scary dangers we are too sheep like to question.

welcome to DU.

Show me one police department that has been called onto the carpet politically for brutalizing Occupy protesters.

to sell or lease to protest groups... just a thought.

Why not we monitor the cops with drones?...and while your at it the politicians too....see if they are working some perversion in their hot tub.....put it on YouTube.

to jam the frequencies of the drones, causing them to lose control. Perhaps also possible to take over the drones with a stronger signal, and turn it on the cops?

You can bet on it.

This article is a speculative one, not news reporting.

It is a declarative statement that this will happen. Turns out that it's some sheriff who wants it. There is an enormous difference.

It isn't really that deceptive, it is were we are heading. The sheriff has to want it before he can get it. Step by step.

Who's gonna RC them? Local police? Today perhaps maybe not tomorrow.

Also, I see another job being outsourced because of budget cuts.

first it's rubber bullets and tear gas then it's rocket launchers and machine guns with some heat seeking and ultra sensitive listening devices thrown in just for good measure. A lot of people have poo pooed this technology but it is extremely dangerous when used by L/E. We the people will pay the price.

How many times have Americans rioted and shown themselves to be deadly in this country that the police feel they need such heavy protection? Are our streets a battle zone lately? Do ordinary civilians pose such a deadly threat that even good law abiding citizens find it impossible to go shopping or go anywhere near the outdoors? Has our daily routine life become a survivors only landscape dependent on how many guns we can use to protect ourselves? Is crime so rampant that we fear to leave our homes now?

Yet the police keep getting more and more weaponized. Do we really need to wonder why?

It gives them the opportunity to use all their "toys"...

someone interferes with their computer systems?

will be deemed to have been, following departmental policy, and exonerated, of course.

If they contain weapons this is scary. Some of these drones are tiny.

Thanks for posting these.

We are slowly sinking all over the place. 3rd world countries are beating us in some things.

Really, is there anything else left to say? USA, USA!

I'm not sure whether to or at TPTB.

EOM.

--skeet shooting might be a great sport to start up

We SAID they would not be satisfied with just spying.
Just wait....one day soon the entire nation's police force will consist of a few guys in basements across the country, paid for by contractors, accidentally tasing and shooting people.

The ability blow up cars will be next.

A new law will be passed, probably in the indiv. states, that says anyone even suspected of doing naughty things will be shot by drones.

No, I am not kidding.

even with the *better* candidate in this election. We need to do more than just vote, people.

Wake the hell up, America, and Occupy now.

Where are our progressive reps on this?
SHUDDER.
Weaponized.

Step by step the movie Terminator is becoming true.

Remotely operated at first, and then completely autonomous....

USA ! USA ! USA !

Indi Guy

I think it looks like one of this http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Probe_droid Even though on a smaller scale, and with less advanced weapons...

Diclotican

Indi Guy

The resemblence of the two is rather scary if you ask me.. It looks like sience fiction, and sience are in a way finaly getting togheter.... Even though the equipment today is rude and not advanced at all - it all have to start somewhere...

Diclotican

...especially where it comes to controlling the "masses".

are creating the perfect name and slogan so the American people will beg for drones over their cities.
the "Family Safety Buddy" or something

Hackers. If the designers of this tech think nerds haven't been paying attention, they should think again. It's not necessary to take over a drone to cause mayhem - just knocking it out of the sky would be sufficient, and there are a variety of ways to do this.

HERF tech springs to mind. I see DishNetwork dishes covering rooftops, and bigger dishes with bigger antennas make bigger transmitters. Accurate targeting isn't necessary - just sufficient power and a distributed source. So far I think the penalties levied against using this type of tech has made it easy for activists to ignore. I'm just not sure that the gov't really wants to play chicken with civil liberties on this one. It's a little too close to sci-fi distopia for many outside the tinfoil hat crowd.

After this we'll finally be safe?

/what would the punishment be for shooting down a drone? Is this counting as a federal officer, or is it just damaging property?