FLASHBACK JUNE 2013: St. Louis Police Chief predicted DRONES deployed within 18 months..IS FERGUSON HEGALIAN DIALECTIC 4 USA DRONE DEPLOYMENT?

FLASHBACK JUNE 2013: St. Louis Police Chief wants Drones to Patrol St. Louis... predicted would be deployed within 18 months...



[link to fox2now.com]
The science-fiction movie “Robocop” was set in 2029. But the St. Louis Police Department’s request for robot drones to patrol the skies might make you believe a “Robocop” future could be here sooner than later.

City police Chief Sam Dotson says he hopes that robot surveillance drones could be patrolling the skies over St. Louis within a year.

When most people think about drones, they think about the predator and reaper drones armed with hellfire missiles that strike at Taliban areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But the newest generation of surveillance drones don’t carry weapons. And they’re small ranging from the size of a small desk to a coffee cup.

The St. Louis Police Department has asked the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to use those kinds of unmanned surveillance vehicles. Chief Dotson doesn’t like to use the word drone.

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His timeline may be delayed a bit, but St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson is optimistic that within 18 months, his department will have its first drone to police the skies.

Dotson’s initial plan calls for a small one – 25 pounds or so, and the size of a small table – that would be armed with camera and fly as high as 400 feet in the air.

If the drone performs as hoped, more will follow.

Sam Dotson
Sam Dotson
Such a drone could track stolen cars threading their way through city side streets, check for potential evil-doers in Busch Stadium, and help “apprehend felons who flee from us, and do so safely,’’ the chief said.

And while St. Louis area residents are mulling over the idea, Dotson offered a bit of assurance to wary members of the audience at Wednesday night’s latest Holden Policy Forum at Webster University.

“You are never going to see a predator drone that has missiles and shoots at people,’’ the chief said.

Any St. Louis drones also would be used solely outdoors, in “the public space,’’ he added. Not peering through windows or flying into homes.

City plans information center to track cameras, drones
Dotson’s plan also calls for a “real time information center,’’ where personnel would operate and oversee the drones, as well as the cameras increasingly posted around the city.

His chief message, though, centers on versatility, safety – and cost.

Dotson already has applied for approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, and has the funding lined up for the first drone, which is estimated to cost around $30,000-$60,000.

That compares to a typical cost of a helicopter that’s “$1.6 million, not including night vision, not including the optics’’ nor the cost of the two pilots.

The city of St. Louis jointly operates a law-enforcement helicopter service with St. Louis and St. Charles counties, the chief said.

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Last Edited by Uncle Fuck Stick on 08/20/2014 06:48 PM