McGinn: SPD ending drone program, returning drones to vendor

[nauthiz]

7. Easy

Drones are operated remotely 24/7 by a group of people who constantly monitor whatever it is they're looking at. They just need to be refueled, you can have someone always at the helm watching. You actually have to have people in the helicopter.

Having someone in the helicopter and not thousands of miles away, from the standpoint of human psychology, is much different. Someone a thousand miles away has a much easier time pulling the trigger than someone right in the helicopter. These things are weapons and can be outfitted as such. Just because they say they won't be weaponized doesn't meant that won't change. I'm sure cops in helicopters carry weapons with them, so you'd probably make the argument that since cops in helicopters carry guns, it's fine that drones do the same thing.

The police can do their job just fine the way they have it now.

As far as trusting the police as an institution, I think that they pretty much go either way now. Ever since the first police beating has happened, there's no reason to give police this kind of power. At all.

Our stupid drug and immigration laws just need to be changed and you'd see much less need for police in general.