Houston police have drones.

Seriously, WTF

first, conroe is like an hour from houston, and the article mentions houston has scrapped any drones for HPD.

second, it says the thing weighs 50 pounds, and could fire beanbag rounds. what happens to a 50 pound kid when they fire their first 12 gauge? knocks them on their butt right? now put it on a helicopter.

judging from the size of the pipe on that heli, i doubt their going to be very stealthy either.

I want one. (Really, I have a plan.)

$300,000 in homeland security grant money? Sounds like our tax dollars being well spent again.

Seriously, I'd rather see them hire another couple officers or buy new patrol cars, armor, training, etc. then blow money on an oversized R/C toy.

That reminds me of one of my favorite Simpsons episodes.

Gun Shop Owner: And this is for shooting down police helicopters. Homer: Oh, I don't need anything like that... [paranoid]...YET.

Police SWAT teams have been playing with stuff like this for many years. Seriously, there's nothing new in this.

Yes, you should be afraid. But, most won't, because (1) they have nothing to hide, and (2) it's to help keep them safe.

15 years ago when I was working at a hobby shop, there was a guy building a RC helicopter drone for SPAWAR. Smart guy. He was using a hacked GPS married to an electronic gyro all tied into a standard RC system for positioning.

Not at all surprised to see this, anything cool the military gets, the PD wants. Kind of like the NYPD shooting down planes with a 50cal. Just do what you are told and everything will be fine. Resistance is futile.

Toyman01 wrote: Just do what you are told and everything will be fine. Resistance is futile.

Telling me that is like telling a 3yr old to sit quietly thru a funeral.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: Just do what you are told and everything will be fine. Resistance is futile.

Telling me that is like telling a 3yr old to sit quietly thru a funeral.

That was good for a laugh.

I figure in another 15-20 years, we will all have surveillance in our houses. How hard would it be for Homeland Security to hack your computer and activate the camera and mic. After all, it's for the safety of the "children". Say that enough time and any law will pass congress.

Toyman01 wrote: I figure in another 15-20 years, we will all have surveillance in our houses. How hard would it be for Homeland Security to hack your computer and activate the camera and mic. After all, it's for the safety of the "children". Say that enough time and any law will pass congress.

I used to think that was a funny thing to put on a tee shirt. Now, I think it should be put on a branding iron...

Just think, one day these might be necessary.

Hmm, I wonder if I can go ahead and patent a Faraday helmet. Might be big money one day.

Toyman01 wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: Just do what you are told and everything will be fine. Resistance is futile.

Telling me that is like telling a 3yr old to sit quietly thru a funeral.

That was good for a laugh. I figure in another 15-20 years, we will all have surveillance in our houses. How hard would it be for Homeland Security to hack your computer and activate the camera and mic. After all, it's for the safety of the "children". Say that enough time and any law will pass congress.

Retrocomputing + overclocking FTW!!!!! If we can hop up and drive old cars we can do it to computers