147-mph biker chase demonstrates latest aerial surveillance tech

[tradertimm]

Only on boing-boing would the breathless “OMG MAP TECHNOLOGY” be uttered with a straight face.

The police did what they should do, observe with restraint to prevent further endangerment to people around the speeding driver, waiting until an opportune moment to apprehend someone breaking the law.

I guess if they had jumped in before hand, boing-boing would then be shouting about how his right to break the law was being suppressed.

Throughout there was nothing more fascinating than what could have been gleaned from public databases. But naturally since the police are using this, its a pearl-clutching concern troll article.

[agies]

Except it wasn’t a speeding ticket once he fled.

[anotherone]

@Menotyou

I’d like to see the expanding blob of light and smoke in some of these high-speed chases. Some of these guys, it’s painfully obvious they don’t give a shit if they kill or cripple other people, they deserve to get strafed.

This will be the argument used. It already has supporters. That’s why we worry.

[RobJ]

Sorry, maus, I don’t know of any open source whatever-it-is-you-are-asking-for.

Just to be clear, I was kinda forking the thread to start a rant about how many toys are developed and pushed onto our safety agents. Fancy toys, not cheap, and though there are the laws in place to keep the public informed, protect the public’s privacy and legal rights, chain of evidence, etc, etc, I’m sure that the toys are increasingly coming with licensing terms that are either run counter to the law, or are clearly in the gray area.

I won’t go into more detail since I can tell from your reply that this is the wrong topic for that. Here, we are just looking at the cool tech that actually worked by not endangering the public with ridiculous high speed chases through residential streets.

[anon36155390]

@anon32019413

A normal country would have mailed fines, suspended license, and scheduled a court appearance.

Oh, they do that here, too. But they never miss a chance to dole out instant justice, given the opportunity. Also, the authorities sometimes consider a vehicle to be a deadly weapon, but I’m not sure if is only after the fact when someone is hurt or injured by it.

[wsmcneil]

@AndreaJames

Always amazing to me how many people here have a hard time getting jokes.

THUNK THUNK THUNK

sigh. Goddam irony detector on the fritz again. Maybe it’s the batteries?

THUNK THUNK

[wsmcneil]

@Auld_Lang_Syne

Please do not presume to tell me where my concern is or where it should be

Apologies. I was merely interpreting your own words:

And if police culture in the United States were healthier i would find this to be a wonderful thing.

You said you thought the tool would be wonderful, except that you didn’t trust the people who would have access to it. I took that to mean that you were concerned about the people using the tool and not the tool itself, and I expanded on the importance of that distinction. Sorry if I misunderstood what you were saying.

@Auld_Lang_Syne

Just as “the medium is the method” the tool available to the tool user can affect their mindset.

Message, not method. Yes, of course. But that’s not the tool’s fault. That’s the user’s fault, or the fault of those who inadequately trained the user in its use. Your example of the routine availability of firearms to UK vs US law enforcement is a good one. Firearms are recognized as a useful tool by UK law enforcement, but as a specialized tool reserved for specialized situations that demand specialized training. Authorised Firearms Officers and Specialized Firearms Officers receive highly advanced training to ensure that their tools will be used responsibly, and only in situations that require them. It’s not the tool that’s the problem; it’s the inappropriate use of that tool in the hands of people with inadequate training.

@Auld_Lang_Syne

Consider: is a fatal biological weapon ever a good tool?

Of course. Because the same biological organisms and technologies that could be used to kill people can just as easily be used to help them, instead. Live smallpox virus has been used as a biological weapon, but it’s also what let us create a vaccine that eliminated smallpox. Pesticides and herbicides are often bacterial or viral in nature: biological weapons without which billions would starve. A lot of people are working very hard on a number of strategies, including biological pathogens, to eradicate the various species of mosquito that result in millions of deaths year by transmitting malaria, Zika, and dengue fever.

@Auld_Lang_Syne

Do you really see this particular technology getting into the hands of the general public? Anytime soon?

As others have pointed out in this thread, this isn’t especially advanced or restricted stuff. The public has drones, and Google maps, and live-streaming video, and myriad other tools to watch the watchers. More importantly, I don’t need this technology to watch the cops myself, because the cops are already doing it. I need two things: laws that make all police actions subject to mandatory and publicly accessible video recording, and a police culture that understands and promotes the appropriate use of its tools. Body cams, dash cams, drones, and the video we just saw – if everything that cops do is live-streamed to and scrutinized by the public they work for, then the ones that can’t learn to use the tools responsibly won’t keep their jobs.

@Auld_Lang_Syne

Sure this douce-bag was speeding dangerously, but what if he was just a guy that the sheriff had a beef with?

Then that would be an abuse of the tool by the user, and not an argument against the appropriate utility of the tool itself. If that had been the case, then we would have just seen a video that showed Sheriff Roscoe (or, in this case, Chief John Batiste of the Washington State Patrol – I don’t think many local sheriffs have Cessnas) violating William’s civil rights, Roscoe would be out of a job, and William would have the basis for a nice fat civil lawsuit. Two or three incidents like that and a law enforcement agency would learn pretty quickly to better train their officers about how to use their tools appropriately.

[maushammer]

Just teasing you asking for the download link as a segue into getting people to start their own projects. I’m a big fan of DIYdrones. Totally agree - this arrest was made very cleanly & safely.

[Auld_Lang_Syne]

@wsmcneil

Apologies. I was merely interpreting your own words:

And if police culture in the United States were healthier i would find this to be a wonderful thing.

I was less then absolutely clear and you assumed too much. My “this” perhaps should have been “this use”. So, no, i was not saying that i thought the tool would be wonderful.

@wsmcneil

But that’s not the tool’s fault. That’s the user’s fault, or the fault of those who inadequately trained the user in its use.

‘Fault’ is a particularly useless way to discuss these kinds of things. I am not saying we should ‘blame’ the tool, just that certain tool engender certain mindsets. Training helps (and is definitely incredibly inadequate here in the states), but we have to remember that we’re dealing with humans here and humans, no matter what their training, will fuck things up.

@wsmcneil

Of course. Because the same biological organisms and technologies that could be used to kill people can just as easily be used to help them, instead.

That’s not the weapon! I asked:

@Auld_Lang_Syne

[I]s a fatal biological weapon ever a good tool?

not, “Are the techniques used in creating biological weapons useful in other ways?” or “Did we learn useful things while creating biological weapons?”.

@wsmcneil

Pesticides and herbicides are often bacterial or viral in nature: biological weapons without which billions would starve. A lot of people are working very hard on a number of strategies, including biological pathogens, to eradicate the various species of mosquito that result in millions of deaths year by transmitting malaria, Zika, and dengue fever.

These, however, are reasonable points and are analogous to why i originally changed that from “nuclear warheads” as i remembered science fiction stories of using them for inter-planetary propulsion. But they aren’t tools that we just let anybody have.
There are tools that are more dangerous than other tools, either because of their instability, the likelihood of great harm from their mis-use, or the mind-set they help foster in their user. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t ever use them, just that we need to have caution.

[agies]

They didn’t chase him at high speed. That’s the whole point here. He was clocked going 82 in a 60 and fled, refusing to pull over. Instead of engaging in a high speed pursuit the police used aircraft to track him and allow for officers to take him into custody.

[Menotyou]

Please name one situation where passing a rule forbidding abuse of a tool has actually prevented use of that tool. Such rules do absolutely nothing but make it legal to retaliate against the abuser.

[SocialMaladroit]

That was definitely some very cool technology; it made tracking and finding the guy much, much easier than if the cop in the airplane tried to call it without a good knowlege of directions or street names.

It would be even cooler if the video display with the overlay was also available to the police dispatcher on the ground, who had to coordinate responding units.