Christopher Dorner first drone target on U.S. soil.

[TaboriHK]

I'm not sure what recourse we have when there's a guy out there hunting cops who claims to have an anti-air weapon.

 

[Karelwolfpup]

Why am I supposed to give a shit about the welfare of a killer on the run again?

 

[Dead Seerius]

Hmm. If this drone is only being used for tracking, is this guy really the first US citizen to be tracked this way? I'm no expert on this kind of thing, but it seems like this method of searching for a fugitive would've been used before.

From the article:
In 2011, a North Dakota county sheriff used a drone to stalk three alleged cow thieves.
Tracking cow thieves with a drone... and that's not even in the South.
Although where does a county sheriff even get this stuff?

Thanks, I accidentally skipped the editor's note.

In response to your question, from his secret doom fortress perhaps? And those 'cows' he values so much aren't really cows at all. They're robots.
If I were in the CIA, I'd be keeping tabs on that guy.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

So long as this is intended for surveillance only and this doesn't set some kind of privacy destroying precedent, I am cool with it. Though it'd be kind of funny if he shot down a drone. How much money do those things cost?

No way near as much as a manned aircraft!

I think this is good news! As a user of RPAS I think it is absurd they are not used for domestic issues already! Raoul Moat would have been found in a few minutes had we been able to use them in the UK, and that copper would still be alive today!!

 

[Coppernerves]

Looks to me like they are using the drones thermal imaging from reading the article, I'm guessing the payload is just the camera not a hellfire missile. Remember this guy has warned that he has a shoulder fired surface to air missile in case they come at him with a helicopter, so a drone is probably the best thing.

Want me to move your thread to Politics forum?

I agree whole heartedly.

I'd like to point out another advantage over a manned helicopter: If he points a missile at it, they won't have to shoot him to stop him from killing the pilot.

So epic win!

 

[RicoADF]

Implying the "Land of the free" haven't been violating human rights for years.

Right.

Apparently the Native Americans don't count, along with the African slaves. But they probably weren't paying taxes so arseholes to them! Right? Anyway, that is the past it's not like the USA had some kind of torture camp in Cuba for political prisoners. Oh, damn. Well Cuba doesn't count...

Enough 'Murica-bashing, back to the thread! Seems to me like 'hunt' means 'look for' not 'murderise'. Apparently some cow rustlers have already been tracked using drones on US soil too (according to the OP's link).

Or shooting unarmed collage students for protesting don't count either.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

It would be far from a new thing of the US killing its own citizens without trial.

OT: it seems that their just using it for recon, considering the warnings about having a stinger and clearly happy to use it, it would be irresponsible not to use a drone to search from the sky.

 

[Thyunda]

Hmm. If this drone is only being used for tracking, is this guy really the first US citizen to be tracked this way? I'm no expert on this kind of thing, but it seems like this method of searching for a fugitive would've been used before.

From the article:
In 2011, a North Dakota county sheriff used a drone to stalk three alleged cow thieves.
Tracking cow thieves with a drone... and that's not even in the South.
Although where does a county sheriff even get this stuff?

It's called Bessie and he keeps it in the barn.


No more questions.

 

[Burst6]

Looks to me like they are using the drones thermal imaging from reading the article, I'm guessing the payload is just the camera not a hellfire missile. Remember this guy has warned that he has a shoulder fired surface to air missile in case they come at him with a helicopter, so a drone is probably the best thing.

Want me to move your thread to Politics forum?

I agree whole heartedly.

I'd like to point out another advantage over a manned helicopter: If he points a missile at it, they won't have to shoot him to stop him from killing the pilot.

So epic win!

But then again they are picking out thermal images, and this is the LAPD we're talking about. The same people who managed to confuse two hispanic women and a white guy as a 6'2 bald black man. I feel sorry for anyone taking a hike in the mountains.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Drones are being used to find a fugitive and your conclusion is that they are going to gun him down with missiles?

Right....

 

[Happiness Assassin]

Oh for fucks sake OP, it says that they are using the drones to find him, not kill him. This isn't the first time this has happened on U.S. soil, as we have used drones for surveillance and to find criminals for years now.

 

[Coppernerves]

So long as this is intended for surveillance only and this doesn't set some kind of privacy destroying precedent, I am cool with it. Though it'd be kind of funny if he shot down a drone. How much money do those things cost?

What's the difference between a from drone mounted camera and the currently operated helicopter cameras?

A drone is lighter, since it doesn't have people in it or the stuff for supporting them, so it can fly longer before refueling.

What's more, if the fugitive aims a rocket at the aircraft, they won't have to shoot him to keep the pilot alive.

Finally, it's scarier, the fact that it's soaring smoothly, and (to the guy on the ground) silently, makes it so much more ominous than a closer, brash, helicopter noisily beating the air below it into submission.

 

[HellbirdIV]

I wonder what would happen if he did use that shoulder-mounted missile he claims to have to shoot down the drone. Does the conflict escalate to an AC-130 pelting the area? Because I have to admit that sounds kind of awesome. Ridiculous, but awesome.

 

[Coppernerves]

*snio*

I'd like to point out another advantage over a manned helicopter: If he points a missile at it, they won't have to shoot him to stop him from killing the pilot.

So epic win!

But then again they are picking out thermal images, and this is the LAPD we're talking about. The same people who managed to confuse two hispanic women and a white guy as a 6'2 bald black man. I feel sorry for anyone taking a hike in the mountains.

I had no idea LAPD was like that.

Is it true they've got an SMG with two barrels, two magazine wells, and a mechanism to make the second barrel fire between the times the first barrel fires?

Do they just blame their failures on not having Batmans' gadgets?

 

[fix-the-spade]

Murderer or not, Dorner is still a United States citizen and is entitled to a trial.

So foreign citizens are't?

Unfortunately for Mr Dorner, cops take it personally when one of their own gets murdered, doubly so when the killer is (or was) also one of their own. It's worth noting that the drone is a surveillance drone, even the state department hasn't quite got as far as dropping JDAMs on home soil.

But really the big question is why anyone would be surprised at this, if the guy's claiming to have a SAM launcher, would you want to go up in a helicopter and look for him when there's a robot to do it for you?

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Just so everyone knows, MSN shot their wad early saying that drones were confirmed; they've edited the article because drones are neither confirmed or denied, and they point out that drones were used in 2011 to track 3 alleged cow thieves in North Dakota. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/02/are-we-using-drones-find-ex-cop-christopher-dorner/61987/

 

[elvor0]

So long as this is intended for surveillance only and this doesn't set some kind of privacy destroying precedent, I am cool with it. Though it'd be kind of funny if he shot down a drone. How much money do those things cost?

What's the difference between a from drone mounted camera and the currently operated helicopter cameras?

He did say he had a portable SAM, whether or not that's true remains to be seen, but one of them has living people inside of it.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

To be fair the guy did kill several police officers, several other innocent people who played no part in whatever grudge he has and he's said himself to be heavily armed. I say the guy has it coming.

 

[Ryotknife]

It is a flying camera, big whoop.

Now if it was armed with Hellfire missiles, different story. and if it had missiles and was being controlled by the LAPD? then yea that city needs to evacuate because the LAPD will burn the entire city to the ground.

 

[uzo]

Bah ... this guy's an amateur. Check out Malcolm Naden. 7 years in the Aussie bush - considering most people wouldn't last 7 days.

Hell this dude'll be dead by the time they find him I suspect. Heavy armaments != survival skills. That's something US Survivalists need to learn.

 

[Burst6]

*snio*

I'd like to point out another advantage over a manned helicopter: If he points a missile at it, they won't have to shoot him to stop him from killing the pilot.

So epic win!

But then again they are picking out thermal images, and this is the LAPD we're talking about. The same people who managed to confuse two hispanic women and a white guy as a 6'2 bald black man. I feel sorry for anyone taking a hike in the mountains.

I had no idea LAPD was like that.

Is it true they've got an SMG with two barrels, two magazine wells, and a mechanism to make the second barrel fire between the times the first barrel fires?

Do they just blame their failures on not having Batmans' gadgets?

Most of my knowledge is from just recently looking at sources i picked off of reddit. I'm too lazy to give the sources of these, but they shouldn't be too hard to find. They're fairly recent. In one two LAPD officers unloaded on a blue toyota pickup that had two women who were delivering newspapers. They said it looked similar to dorners car, which was a large gray nissan pickup. In the other they shot at a white man while he was driving in the same neighborhood as a person the LAPD were protecting. Their excuse was "he was coming right for us" i believe. They rammed him and unloaded.

As for the SMG, considering several officers unloaded multiple clips into the cars of the people i just talked about and none of them died, i think the LAPD needs it.

It's not that the LAPD is blaming their failures on anything, they're just incredibly corrupt.