This week in Police State News:
Attack of the Flying Tasers
In a recent report this week, Antoine di Zazzo representing one of the largest Taser manufacturer outside of the U.S. has announced that his company is working on a Flying Saucer with a Taser attached for the purpose of crowd control.
From the AFP article:
Di Zazzo's French company is also developing a mini-flying saucer like drone which could also fire Taser stun rounds on criminal suspects or rioting crowds. He expects it to be launched next year and to be sold internationally by Taser.
Before you dismiss this as far-fetched, remember there have already been other instances of development and deployment of such devices, like this spy drone in the UK used during a large music festival.
Surveillance drones certainly have been in the news recently, including coverage in the Washington Post and CNN.
Houston Police Use Drone Planes
When neighbors noticed black trucks, satellite dishes, swirling radars, and "a portable launch pad, with something covered up" on a Waller County Ranch, they had no idea what to think. CNN's Houston affiliate KPRC has partially solved the mystery: Houston police plan to start using unmanned drone aircraft. But, a question still remains: what, exactly, will the drones be used for?
The mood surrounding Waller County Ranch was highly secretive. At the entrance to the test site stood a Houston police road block, making sure only those invited were let through. HPD lieutenants refused to answer any questions from KPRC reporters, but KPRC still managed to gain footage of the "test [we] were not supposed to see."
"[The] drone was able to use a high-powered camera to track us," says Stephen Dean, who tracked the drone for KPRC. "Those cameras can actually look into people's homes or even follow them in moving cars."
More directly from the Local 2 News in Houston:
Montalvo told reporters the unmanned aircraft would be used for "mobility" or traffic issues, evacuations during storms, homeland security, search and rescue, and also "tactical." She admitted that could include covert police actions and she said she was not ruling out someday using the drones for writing traffic tickets.
A large number of the officers at the test site were assigned to the department's ticket-writing Radar Task Force. Capt. Tom Runyan insisted they were only there to provide "site security," even though KPRC cameras spotted those officers heavily participating in the test flight.
The company Insitu who manufactures surveillance equipment such as the ScanEagle, Integrator, GeoRanger and Insight unmanned flight vehicles was present for the demonstration.
And from Miami Florida:
High-Tech Drones Joining Miami Police Force
MIAMI -- The Miami-Dade police department will begin experimenting with high-tech drones as law enforcement tools beginning next year.
Although the military has been using unmanned aircraft systems for years, this will be the first time they are used in law enforcement.
The flying camera is called a Micro Air Vehicle made by Honeywell. The MAV is remote controlled, unarmed and unmanned and can soar over 10,000 feet.
To see the Honeywell MAV in action click here.
Somehow these aren't quite as creepy as the insect-like drones that were reported in the WaPo last month:
Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs
"I'd never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical, or is that alive?' "
That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York. Some suspect the insectlike drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.