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I'd think someone might want to steal that little chopper drone, maybe. I guess they're guarding it.

Oh, you're talking about that little drone helicopter? Yeah, it's a good idea. It can do surveillance, find missing persons, and help police from walking into ambushes, among other things. Much cheaper to buy and operate than a manned helicopter, which is what most police departments are currently using.

avoid that kind of sun exposure. Besides, the glare off my paper white body after a Minnesota winter would burn the camera out instantly.

Still, I'm sure the Police have a special budget for flying helicopter drones over backyards to look for naked people. You bet.

Especially if I decided to go without a swimsuit. And, if they wanted to see me in a swimsuit, all they'd have to do is go to my gym while I'm swimming laps. I'm headed that way in a few hours...

They look like the typically armed SWAT officers. We could debate whether all that is necessary, I suppose, but I don't think that's what this thread is about.

and I would think that one SWAT team for multiple communities
would be sufficient.

Since it does cost tax dollars it would be nice if the police
poll the community to see what their view of the need vs.
want is. The police seem to say - We have decided that
there is a NEED and they go out and spend the money and
then raise taxes. There will be no end to the "toys" that
these people want/need.

I am against spending tax payer's money in order to increase
revenue (eg. , intersection cameras). If they want the intersection
to be safer they should increase the time for the yellow or put up a
countdown indicator like they have on the crosswalks now. That way
you would know how many seconds are left to get thru the light. If
there are only 2-3 seconds you know to stop at the light. -Simple-

BUT - it reduces revenue - NO, we can't possibly do that!
AND why would we want to?
(because you're there to PROTECT the people, stupid!)

traffic signals in St. Paul, MN. They are wonderful. I hate approaching a green light and not knowing whether it's going to change soon. It helps with traffic flow and actually gets people to slow down and stop when the counter shows not much time left.

They're a great idea.

Is this counter for the crosswalk

or is it for the yellow to red countdown?

They count down the change from green to yellow. Typically, they begin the countdown at 15-20 seconds. The ones here have 8" numerals, and can be seen at least half a block away by drivers.

Not every intersection has them yet, but they're getting more common every week. The other thing we have here in fairly large quantities are the speed indicators that show drivers what their current speed is, along with the speed limit. Mostly they're in mixed areas, with both commercial and residential buildings. They've really worked to slow drivers down.

For the paranoiac local governments who buy into all of the fear-mongering that is being fed them by the fascist coroporatists, yes, it's necessary. For the sane people, no, it is not.

manned helicopters a lot. They fly around the Twin Cities frequently when a pursuit is going on or when police are looking for a felon who is evading arrest after committing a crime. Those manned helicopters are hellishly expensive to operate. These small camera drones could take the place of those helicopters most of the time.

In addition, smaller cities usually can't afford manned helicopters, or pay a larger jurisdiction to operate them when necessary. Again, these small camera drones would add capabilities to those smaller departments, at a small fraction of the cost of operating manned helicopters.

If anyone can't see how such devices would be useful in a wide variety of situations, then they're not really thinking about it very hard. One missing child found would make it worthwhile. We have several a year in our city. Often, they're found by searchers, after they've wandered off somewhere. They might be found faster.

They have their uses, as you point out. But, I can also see how they can be abused. If the are going to be used to photograph private property, they damn well better have a warrant first.

Although these mini-drones are less expensive to operate than manned helicopters, they are still expensive to operate. They will need a trained operator to fly them and another person at least. They're not easy to fly, by any means, so any given department is not going to have a surplus of trained operators. In addition, the mini-drones are expensive enough to purchase that they're not going to be deployed anytime they're not actually needed. Too much risk of damage.

As for the warrants, I believe such searches will involve warrants, except in the cases where warrants are not required for other police operations, such as fugitive searches, missing persons searches, etc. They will, of course, be used to watch protests and things like that. Right now, manned helicopters are in use for that, anyhow.

I do not anticipate that they will be used for any sort of random surveillance. Too expensive for that.

Law enforcement out of control. Just like Arpaio and his clones.