'Robo' copters might fly into cityCharleston police hope to buy drones By David Slade (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Charleston police hope to buy drones The Charleston Police Department is calling for some high-tech air support. The city wants to buy two unmanned helicopters that can hover quietly and stream video back to the ground, like the drones used by the military in Iraq, but much less expensive and without weapons. "It's where law enforcement is headed," Police Chief Greg Mullen said. "The military has been using them for years." The city has applied for a $56,250 federal grant toward the estimated $75,000 cost of buying two helicopters, and the Charleston police would pay the difference. Mullen said he hasn't decided whether to pursue the plan if the grant money is not approved. Charleston could be among the first to use unmanned helicopters, but other police agencies have experimented with drones, including fixed-wing aircraft. North Little Rock, Ark., has agreed to purchase two of the helicopters, known as unmanned aerial vehicles, and is awaiting final approval of a federal grant. "We, like most cities, have areas of town that are prone to street crime, drug dealing and the associated violence that goes along with it," North Little Rock Police Chief Danny Bradley said. "You have some success with patrols and undercover surveillance, but those people quickly learn to identify the officers." Bradley said the helicopters could help with surveillance. "Also, just the effect that you are using it could have a psychological effect on the wrongdoers in the community, because they would not only have to look up and down the street, but overhead," he said. North Little Rock plans to buy its helicopters from a Charleston-area company, Rotomotion. The Charleston Police Department would have to seek bids for its unmanned aerial vehicles, under federal grant rules, but Mullen said he became interested in the idea after seeing a demonstration at Rotomotion. "We just think it has such versatility, it will really open up a lot of doors for us," Mullen said. The helicopters Charleston is considering are small, with a rotor less than six feet in diameter, and quiet, with an electric motor. They have a limited range and flying time. "If we're looking for a lost individual, or suspects, this device will have thermal imaging that could help us," Mullen said. The grant application also envisions using the helicopters for surveillance and SWAT team operations. "We could use them for aerial viewing at big festivals," Mullen said. "We could use it for observing damage to an area hit by a natural disaster." Bradley said that in North Little Rock, public opinion has been running in favor of the helicopters as a crime-fighting tool, but there also have been concerns about privacy and civil liberties. "We've been trying to assure them this is not different than what police have been doing with helicopters for years," Bradley said. "We have no time or desire to spy on people in their homes, even if we were able to do that." Mullen said that if Charleston continues with plans to buy the helicopters, he would form a committee with citizen input to discuss the plan. "We're not going to be flying into anybody's backyard and looking into anybody's windows," he said. The Charleston Police Department owned a conventional airplane but sold it last year because of high maintenance costs. "If we need a full-sized helicopter, we can always coordinate with the county," said Mullen, noting that the county Sheriff's Office owns one. Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com. |
Article tools |
|
Notice about comments: Charleston.net is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Charleston.net does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not charleston.net. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "suggest removal" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here. |
Comments
This article has 10 comment(s)
Posted by charlestonian on February 17, 2008 at 7:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Fix the FD first..
Posted by RTC on February 17, 2008 at 9:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I was wondering the same thing. What happens if one of them malfunctions and falls to the ground? What if some clown decides to try to shoot it down?
It's an interesting concept, but how well will it work?
Posted by nesseca on February 17, 2008 at 9:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Big brother's even bigger brother coming to a neighborhood near you.
Posted by withrockb on February 17, 2008 at 12:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
JohnQ, you say hire another police officer. Well, how do you hire more police officers if they don't apply? CPD, local, state, national, and federal law enforcement all have staff shortages. In the Charleston area cops jump from one agency to another just to get better pay. (Which $32,000 isn't a whole lot) Folks like you say, "Hire more cops" guess what? There is a cop shortage and it's going to get worse. Plus, it doesn't help that the CJA has limited the amount of LE classes to graduate and certify LE officers. That's why CPD created TOPS, since they have people they can't even get into the academy for months and need to give them something to do. So, hire more cops huh? CPD is down 100+ officers, the SC Highway Patrol is down like 170+almost officers. Yet, let's just hire more officers. Society, the gov't, the police departments make it almost impossible to do the job of a police officers. Officers are handcuffed more than the criminals. Criminals don't have to follow laws but officers have to follow laws, departmemt policies, state and federal; not even to mention having to worry about lawsuits, their lives, and the scum they deal with on a daily basis.. It's ok JohnQ we can just hire more police officers, maybe CPD, NCPD, MT. P, or CCSO will see your application in their personnel offices soon?
Posted by Divine97godly on February 17, 2008 at 6:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
why not just stop the drugs from coming in those dealers in the city don't have and boats or planes to support the black market drug trade. if you arrest every dealer in the lowcountry that want stop the drug trade either. I don't see why enforcement is carried on in our streets when drugs aren't coming from our streets the government has failed the people and then label them while allow drugs to flood the streets they buy drugs for months and call it an investigation. The police department puts more money into the drug trade than ten citizens combined. Stop buying and reselling drugs stop them from coming in to our port. stop them from coming in to our country and criminalize those drug dealing agencies that go uncheck and bring massive amounts of drugs into the country without any fear of being held accountable. That is what the "police" should be doing instead of fulling county and state jails with people who have never left the state let alone the country to make any kind of international drug deal. Cause everyone knows the White House is the Coke House Uncle sam is the pusher man.
Posted by postman01 on February 17, 2008 at 7:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To some posters: Come to your senses!!! We have a huge problem here, which is government employees using FEAR to induce us to get used to being spied upon.
Will some of the nice people here please try THINKING? It's really not that difficult.
Posted by nesseca on February 17, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey Geechie,
"Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither." - attributed to Benjamin Franklin.
Oh, and try reading the fourth amendment of the Constitution.
Posted by pball4f on February 18, 2008 at 9:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Talk about big brother. Charleston taking one more step to make a decent law abiding citizen feel like a criminal in their own city.
Posted by pball4f on February 18, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Shouldn't have to worry about big Brother observing and watching if you aren't doing anything wrong."
We have already had one high ranking officer allbeit with the sheriff's office arrested as a peeping tom in the past year. This should make it easy for them.
Especially since. "These are very quiet aircraft and they can lay just within
view and capture details on the ground."
Posted by AndyT on February 18, 2008 at 11:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
John Q said "Who do we sue when these things drop out of the sky and kill someone, the city, the company that builds them or both?" Thats the problem today! Always looking for an easy way to make a quick buck!
Palmettoman the plane that they City of Charleston had was a leased item. They payed to use it as a needed thing. It actully belonged to Live 5. They say they need more officers because they don't have enough officers to answer the number of calls that are received. They have to have officers from other teams to come over and help out on the other teams because they are short staffed. That is how they can say that they are short. People don't apply, the departments in SC don't pay worth a crap, what do you expect? This is federal grant money. The money WILL be spent, why not have the tools if needed. With Federal Grant money they are getting two more tools that I can assure you, will cost less to operate than some helicopter. But by the amount of times that you post on this board, I am sure that you already though of all of the cost that it would take to operate a remote controlled, unmaned helicopter versus the gas, insurance, schooling, and overall cost of the helicopter. As a tax payer, I would be much happier for the Chief to spend $20,000 and change versus several hundered thousand plus all of the annual cost of running and maintaining an air unit. Plus Charleston County already has one!!! But like I said, I am sure that you already though of that before having diarrhea of the mouth, or fingers in this case!!