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LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

lapdhelicoptertracker.com

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Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#171

Post by themafia »

twelvedogs wrote: post #102
BadBadJellyBean wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

police will chase in the US for really any reason, kinda dumb when they have your plates they can just mail you a fine john oliver did a whole thing on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ygQ2wEwJw

"I wasn't driving at the time. Someone took my car."

There is generally no crime for owning a vehicle used in a crime. The violation belongs to the _driver_ and to no one else. Burden of proof can be extreme in US courts.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#172

Post by lukan »

nradov wrote: post #160
stefan_ wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get this gotcha. The license plate scanner associates a plate with a location and time, it doesn't care for who drives it. In a chase, you know the plate, you don't know the location. Seems perfect?

Perfect how? The license plate scanner can only tell that a particular plate number was in a particular place at a particular time. It doesn't know if the plate was fake or stolen, or who was driving the vehicle, or if there was contraband in the vehicle. Stopping fleeing vehicles is one of the most effective ways to catch people with outstanding arrest warrants and get illegal weapons off the streets.

I think the idea is, if you know where the car is and where it is going, you don't need to chase it openly on high traffic areas with high risk of accidents. You use restraint and take them at a safer place. (surely won't work all the time)

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#173

Post by rasz »

BadBadJellyBean wrote: post #55
shoddydoordesk wrote: post #27

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.

28 seasons of Alarm for Cobra 11 tell me Germany is riddled with criminals running from Polizei on the Autobahn.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#174

Post by almosthere »

BadBadJellyBean wrote: post #55
shoddydoordesk wrote: post #27

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.

Practice for GTA6

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#175

Post by aerostable_slug »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #156
zimpenfish wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so why do americans have more high speed chases? Off the top of my head: 1) US cops are more likely to harass, maim, kill you than most other places (whether you've crimed or not); 2) US legal system seems a little hinky when it comes to certain people; 3) "three strikes" (not sure if that's countrywide or state-level? pretty sure it's still around tho'?) can mean life for three trivial crimes; 4) car-centric count…

California's 3 strikes law only applies to "serious" felonies. The list is pretty reasonable IMO . No one is getting life in prison for littering or insurance fraud It's basically a list of violent crimes, the only one that seems out of pocket is selling PCP, meth, or cocaine to childre, which is bad but could arguably be less bad than the others on the list

Raping an unconscious person is not on the list of violent felonies. Neither is domestic violence with traumatic injury, assault with a deadly weapon, or felony battery with serious bodily injury.

It takes a lot to earn strikes in California.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#176

Post by dns_snek »

closeparen wrote: post #150
zimpenfish wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These are not people getting pulled over because they rolled a stop sign. Although if you watched "Last Week Tonight" recently (S12 E28, 2025-11-02), Mr Oliver's long segment is about police chases and IIRC he covered more than a couple of cases where people were, in fact, being pulled over / chased for trivial matters which then lead to crashes, deaths, etc.

These are trivial matters in that the penalties are minor, not that they are optional.

Of course they're not optional, but you shouldn't be starting a high speed pursuit over a seat belt violation, or for someone going 5 over the speed limit. Principle of proportionality should apply, you shouldn't be risking the lives of the public over anything but the most serious offences where them getting away poses a greater threat to the public than potentially killing a bystander.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#177

Post by mike_d »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #159
throwaway5465 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$5 per person per year then. Or, the price of a can of coke per person per month. Much of which flows directly back into the local economy through wages spent and maintnance paid.

That 46 million could be spent on education, transportation, aid for low-income families, the homeless, jobs programs, small business tax breaks, infrastructure renewal, public works, etc. According to the report, not only are they largely not used for anything productive, there's potential harms to both people and the environment. And as many have pointed out, the same work can be done with drones.

The report is wrong. If you bother to watch LA news you'll see they are used a few times a night to track vehicles from the air. This frees up ground units and avoids high speed chases which saves lives.

It's fun to call this a waste of taxpayer dollars until you watch a carjacked vehicle recovered with kids inside.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#178

Post by mrtksn »

TravisLS wrote: post #48
stefan_ wrote: 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.

Worth noting that many people who run from the police also have fake or stolen plates.

That shouldn't matter, after all, even if the plate is legit, you can't just find a person's location from the database. They usually have some legal address or something, not live location.

So unless there's an immediate danger, there is no reason for chasing people and create dangerous situations. You can just follow them around from the severance cameras and catch them once they are no longer on the move. Even if you don't have disability for one reason or another, it still doesn't make much sense to engage in high-speed driving around people minding their own business.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#179

Post by dns_snek »

themafia wrote: post #171
twelvedogs wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

police will chase in the US for really any reason, kinda dumb when they have your plates they can just mail you a fine john oliver did a whole thing on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ygQ2wEwJw

"I wasn't driving at the time. Someone took my car." There is generally no crime for owning a vehicle used in a crime. The violation belongs to the _driver_ and to no one else. Burden of proof can be extreme in US courts.

You don't need to be chasing them on the road. Attach a GPS tracker to the car and follow it with drone, collect surveillance footage and arrest them once they come to a stop.

Re: LAPD helicopter tracker with real-time operating costs

#180

Post by dns_snek »

bradlys wrote: post #109
hollerith wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could I have damaged the cars even though I saw no signs of damage? It would be nice if someone else with knowledge would chime in here. If this damages cars, then I want to know, so I can stop doing it in the future.

Unless the cars are perfectly washed and clayed, even running a clean finger over a car is likely to introduce scratches. I just wouldn’t ever touch someone’s car. You can look up people even trying to detail their cars to make them cleaner and end up leaving “love marks.” It doesn’t matter how soft the thing you’re using is. It’s because the car has contaminants on it and by rubbing anything on the car, those contam…

If we're taking it this far then driving on the highway is like sandblasting the paint with dust and you do that without even thinking about it.
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