Here is the thing…many technological advances are made through military engineering. Eventually that technology moves past military only use and into civilian/corporate uses as well. Much of it is mundane: velcro, super glue, the Jeep, the hospital bed, GPS, microwave ovens, duct tape, penicillin, radar, nylon, wristwatches, drones, etc.
Using thermal imaging (as well as other imaging filters) isn’t new, but it seemed cutting edge in the early 80’s when Blue Thunder came out (which was modeled after the at the time cutting edge Apache - though it was not actually an Apache, it was a French copter). We are 30 years post-early 80’s now. I do not feel like this stuff is all that high tech, nor is it cutting edge any longer.
Do we as a society want the police using modern military tech as a part of daily patrol? I’d say no. But we also should want them to evolve beyond this too…
