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LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

lapdhelicoptertracker.com

61–70 of 317 posts

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#61

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.

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 wonder how much of the high-speed chase "scene" is actually fuelled by all the hoopla. (TV broadcasts of soccer/football matches tend not to show streakers on the field for this reason)

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Then why do you have so many car chases? That seems like an odd problem. There must be a reason.

I have only been to Germany once, but my assessment was that we have a very different population here.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#64
post #36
post #12

Earlier 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.

Why do we need to follow a car in a high speed pursuit and force it to go 100mph on uncontrolled streets is the better question

The person “forc[ing] it to go 100mph” is in the car being chased.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#65

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.

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…

Personally I prefer Fox 11's coverage of these chases. The guy they have up there is fun to listen to and always sprinkles in comparisons to past chases.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So your proposal is to just let the criminals run away? And that somehow won't embolden them further? "Once this baby hits 88mph, we're home free!" Air support is used to coordinate with law enforcement up ahead to deploy spikes to end the chase. You are just repeating empty political talking points that simply don't work in the real world.

A lot of departments terminate chases very early

They could learn a few things from the Georgia State Patrol, the undisputed world champions of the PIT.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#67
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They get away from time to time from the airship. Two in one week this past august and I don't think they ever caught the suspects. One drove under an overpass and fled on foot, the other entered LAX airspace which requires waiting on clearance from ATC and got away somehow after that. I don't know why they don't just shoot a magnetic dart at the car with a gps tracker on it.

> I don't know why they don't just shoot a magnetic dart at the car with a gps tracker on it. Hitting a car going 100mph with a magnetic dart that and getting it to hit on a metal part, not a window or trim, and specially a steel panel, is not easy at all.

There's a lot more aluminum than steel on car exteriors these days.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#68
post #12

Earlier 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...

[deleted]

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why do you have so many car chases? That seems like an odd problem. There must be a reason.

I have only been to Germany once, but my assessment was that we have a very different population here.

Possible but it seems like the chases are not even a US problem but more a "certain places" problem. I genuinely wonder what the cause of this behavior is.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#70
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So your proposal is to just let the criminals run away? And that somehow won't embolden them further? "Once this baby hits 88mph, we're home free!" Air support is used to coordinate with law enforcement up ahead to deploy spikes to end the chase. You are just repeating empty political talking points that simply don't work in the real world.

Basically, letting them run away and then setting up a raid at their house the next morning is safer for everyone. If you can follow them from altitude well enough to do that, you reduce risk dramatically relative to either interception or chase.

> They could learn a few things from the Georgia State Patrol, the undisputed world champions of the PIT.

Why not just open up on them with antitank weaponry? PIT maneuvers are extraordinarily dangerous, especially at high speeds.

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