The LAPD Thinks It’s at War and Now It Has Drones

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  • THE LAPD THINKS IT’S AT WAR AND NOW IT HAS #DRONES
    http://www.vice.com/read/the-lapd-thinks-its-at-war-and-now-it-has-drones-822

    Activists also fear that drones could someday be used for more than just watching people. A South African company has designed a drone armed with “non-lethal” guns that can fire up to “4,000 pepper-spray paintballs,” according to a report from The Guardian. Called the “Skunk Riot Control Copter,” the manufacturer claims its already shipped 25 of them to an international mining company. Given that American police departments already use chemical weapons, why wouldn’t they want to someday shoot them from a drone? “Officer safety,” after all, “is the number one issue,” as one police chief put it.

    It would seem we’re headed there. On a trip to #Israel earlier this year, LAPD Deputy Chief Jose Perez “lit up when talking about the HoverMast, a new tethered drone” that’s being used by the Israeli military. “That was incredible,” he told the Jewish Journal. The LAPD was ostensibly in Israel to share “best practices” for policing, which according to Horace Frank, commander of the LAPD Information Technology Bureau, was “just a euphemism for: We’re here to steal some of your great ideas. And a lot of great ideas and technology, indeed, you do have here in Israel.”

    The LAPD already possesses a whole stash of military gear, including three grenade launchers and three mine-resistant vehicles. Why? As Frank told an audience in Israel: because it’s at war. “Our needs are truly similar,” he said. “In fact, we are much more alike than dis-alike. As civilized nations, we are all confronted with, in many cases, the same enemy: The ever-growing threat of terrorism and other major criminal elements.”

    #guerre

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