I find it interesting that the question is "why don't they use drones". My question is: why so much air surveillance? I live in Germany. The only times I hear a helicopter is if someone is being rescued or if someones missing. I rarely see them at all.
LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs
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Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs
#22Looks like there's supposed to be a map, but it only loads the very top edge... occasionally redrawn.
Hm, now on reload it shows a whole map... but if you zoom in it resets it and zooms out by itself at intervals.
Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs
#23This is neat but also has serious implications for criminal enablement.
Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs
#24Looks like there's supposed to be a map, but it only loads the very top edge... occasionally redrawn. Hm, now on reload it shows a whole map... but if you zoom in it resets it and zooms out by itself at intervals.
Seconded, I thought it was just me
Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
why LA is spending thousands/hour when drones exist is crazy.
You're talking about technology that's only become realistic in the last couple years. Even then, there's probably nothing off-the-shelf that would serve the current need. LAPD has been patrolling with helicopters for decades . I have yet to see a drone follow a car in high speed pursuit down the 5 at 100+ MPH.
On the other hand, I have seen drones chase down F1 cars at 100+ MPH...
Realistically though, I agree with your sentiment. Solving this would drones would require a constant flock of something more akin to Predator drones.
The better question is - why do we allow high speed pursuit chases in the first place?
Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're talking about technology that's only become realistic in the last couple years. Even then, there's probably nothing off-the-shelf that would serve the current need. LAPD has been patrolling with helicopters for decades . I have yet to see a drone follow a car in high speed pursuit down the 5 at 100+ MPH.
The MQ-8 would be cheaper to operate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_MQ-8_Fire_Sco...
Pretty sure these can't be bought by municipalities. Would make more sense to operate them though.
Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs
#27I find it interesting that the question is "why don't they use drones". My question is: why so much air surveillance? I live in Germany. The only times I hear a helicopter is if someone is being rescued or if someones missing. I rarely see them at all.
There are high speed police chases (100mph+) in Los Angeles — no exaggeration — on an almost daily basis. Air support is the primary defense tool for law enforcement.
It's so bad that the local TV stations have their own choppers and a dedicated on-screen UI tailored for the chases with GPS-based tracking and speed.
If you're lucky you can catch one of the many YouTube live streams. Here's one from....two days ago: https://www.youtube.com/live/uGiJU-FlpdE
Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs
#28As someone who lives in central LA and has them circle my neighborhood frequently, actually shaking my house, I think this is awesome. These needs should be filled by drones. Way less noisy, dangerous and expensive.
Couldn’t someone take out the drones pretty easily?
That depends on the drone. There are drones/UAVs that fly so high in the air you can't even see them seeing you from the ground. Even low flying drones would be very hard to hit from a car involved in a high speed chase, and it's not as if people can't shoot at helicopters which are both larger/easier targets and much more dangerous if brought down.
Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs
#29I find it interesting that the question is "why don't they use drones". My question is: why so much air surveillance? I live in Germany. The only times I hear a helicopter is if someone is being rescued or if someones missing. I rarely see them at all.
There are high speed police chases (100mph+) in Los Angeles — no exaggeration — on an almost daily basis. Air support is the primary defense tool for law enforcement. It's so bad that the local TV stations have their own choppers and a dedicated on-screen UI tailored for the chases with GPS-based tracking and speed. If you're lucky you can catch one of the many YouTube live streams. Here's one from....two days ago: h…
I mean in most other places people have simply realized that unless there is an immediate risk to life, the only thing high speed police chases do is create that very risk.
Nicely contrasts with all the news about the omnipresent license plate scanners - it's just pointless, don't take the risk, arrest them at your leisure.
Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs
#30As someone who lives in central LA and has them circle my neighborhood frequently, actually shaking my house, I think this is awesome. These needs should be filled by drones. Way less noisy, dangerous and expensive.
Down in SD at least, the sheriff's office helicopters serve many purposes. They'll use them for firefighting, hike rescues (often! according to their IG), first responder to an aviation accident, loudly shouting garbled messages through their loudspeaker, etc. There's just enough high-speed/timely crime here that I prefer they use these over drones. There's some extra legal protections built into helicopters that dro…
I seriously doubt that physically rescuing hikers or delivering first-responders to plane crashes represent a large percentage of LAPD helicopter missions. I live in a nice suburb and there's one of them circling over it probably weekly.
I don't see why large drones can't do most of what these helicopters are doing. They're using needlessly expensive helicopters, too.