Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is 4 trucks for the state police, and it is a big state.
Mass surveillance is prohibited by the Constitution. The majority of the funds went toward it.
State or federal constitution?
Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
21–30 of 76 posts
Re: Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think both can be true.
Both can be true but it’s unclear if both are true, and it also depends on what one considers “dumb”
It also depends on what you consider to be “criminal.” I’d wager most shoplifters are dumb. Most supervisors who engage in wage theft aren’t dumb. But that’s not the kind of person who comes to mind when we think “criminal.”
Re: Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is 4 trucks for the state police, and it is a big state.
Mass surveillance is prohibited by the Constitution. The majority of the funds went toward it.
Maybe so, but four physical trucks, interpreting physical radio waves in their immediate vicinity, allocated across the whole state of Texas… that’s “targeted,” not “mass.”
Re: Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both can be true but it’s unclear if both are true, and it also depends on what one considers “dumb”
It also depends on what you consider to be “criminal.” I’d wager most shoplifters are dumb. Most supervisors who engage in wage theft aren’t dumb. But that’s not the kind of person who comes to mind when we think “criminal.”
There are two kinds of people in the world. Criminals, and criminals with plausible deniability.
Re: Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most criminals are dumb, some of them not only carry their phones with them, they even post their crimes on social media. With that and Flock I would think police work has never been easier.
Cops are lazy and dumb as well. They use flock to find people in the area and accuse them of crimes they didn't commit.
They also use flock to find and accuse people who did commit crimes and accuse them of having done so.
They also find and accuse people of crimes they didn’t commit without using Flock.
They also use Flock to skip accusing people who they might have suspected if it weren’t for Flock evidence that exonerates them.
It seems like any meaningful analysis needs to consider the rates of all four combinations of {true|false} {accusations|exonerations}, and compare that matrix to the matrix for the status quo techniques.
Re: Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
#26Re: Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mass surveillance is prohibited by the Constitution. The majority of the funds went toward it.
State or federal constitution?
It is prohibited by the nation's Constitution which overrules all contained regions. The contained regions can add further restrictions, not lower them.
Re: Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
#28Answer: Military Grade surveillance tech > Naturally, it wasn’t just $4.5 million for four 2026 Chevy Tahoes, though the SUVs themselves were still bizarrely expensive at $150,000 a piece. Here’s how the purchase order breaks down: - FalcoNet Core System (x4): $2,850,000 - Unlicensed FalcoNet core system: $200,000 - Delta 5G Perpetual license for FalcoNet V (x4): $280,000 - 2026 Chevrolet Tahoe (x4): $600,000 - Falco…
Maybe the Chevy Tahoes were priced as the initial capex, and a maintenance and support contract covering capex and opex for the next X years with a local dealership? I’ve sometimes seen this in corporate budgeting. Some companies prefer to lock in support and maintenance in advance for a more expensive fixed price instead of pay a variable but lower price over the same time period because of the budgeting vagaries that entails.
Considering the amount of time and the number of expensive management staff involved in them I’ve seen some budgeting knife fights burn up, I see the logic.
Re: Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mass surveillance is prohibited by the Constitution. The majority of the funds went toward it.
Maybe so, but four physical trucks, interpreting physical radio waves in their immediate vicinity, allocated across the whole state of Texas… that’s “targeted,” not “mass.”
I'm pretty sure you're misunderstanding the definition of "targeted". It has nothing to do with the total capacity of the system, it's about the ability differentiate a specific target from everything else.
The design of these systems is the opposite of that: they're intended to intercept everything within their reach. The fact that with only four devices, their reach isn't (yet) so great has no bearing.
Re: Texas Police Spent $4.5M on Four Chevy Tahoes
#30I realize this particular case is state level but at the federal level $21 TRILLION has been spent on militarization including police forces from 2001-2021 https://ips-dc.org/report-state-of-insecurity-cost-militariz... enough is enough, it is beyond ridiculous, imagine how much food, clothing, shelter and healthcare that could have bought instead
And what do we get for it? Cops that think they are in the military, acting as a hostile occupation force and killing our own citizens. Their personal urges should have led them to put up (join the actual military) or shut up (don't). Instead they were given an easier and safer option that requires all of the bravado of shooting fish in a barrel, so they took it.