Drones to be Used in Dorner Case

[Cain]

It's fun, living in a real life James Ellroy novel, isn't it?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

It's fun, living in a real life James Ellroy novel, isn't it?

More like an Ellis/Templesmith graphic novel, to be perfectly honest.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Which, of course, puts them on roughly an equal footing with the Mafia.

Don Corleone was a keeper of the peace, after all.

No argument here.

Tucson's PD was just about perfect when Walkup was mayor ("My job is to watch the police"), but now Rothschild is in ("The commissioner knows what he's doing"), and now it's sliding back into the old days of graft and senseless brutality.

Tries to imagine a mayor saying "My job is to watch the police" in Texas.

The aftermath would probably have to be collected with a squeegee. 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Which, of course, puts them on roughly an equal footing with the Mafia.

Don Corleone was a keeper of the peace, after all.

No argument here.

Tucson's PD was just about perfect when Walkup was mayor ("My job is to watch the police"), but now Rothschild is in ("The commissioner knows what he's doing"), and now it's sliding back into the old days of graft and senseless brutality.

Tries to imagine a mayor saying "My job is to watch the police" in Texas.

The aftermath would probably have to be collected with a squeegee. 

Mayor Walkup was 320 pounds of angry fat man.  You don't fuck with an angry fat man in Tucson.

Because, seriously, they're fat for a reason.

[Junkenstein]

I'm inclined to think there's something in it, finding it between the crazy is another matter.

Time to break out the 

Shit, I was looking for popcorn, but this is just as likely I guess.

Reflecting upon this with friends this eve, I realised I totally fucking called it.

However I am now forced to assume this to be the eventual result of all future LAPD activity.

[Junkenstein]

http://wtkr.com/2013/02/19/gov-to-sign-bill-banning-unmanned-drones-from-flying-over-state/

Governor McDonnell is expected to sign a bill today banning unmanned drones from flying over the state.
The bill bans local and state police from using drones to track suspects until at least 2015 with some exceptions.
They can use them during an emergency situation like an "Amber Alert."
The National Guard can operate them for training purposes.

What would be classed as an "Amber Alert"?

[Cain]

Child abduction.

An AMBER Alert or a Child Abduction Emergency (SAME code: CAE) is a child abduction alert bulletin in several countries throughout the world, issued upon the suspected abduction of a child, since 1996. AMBER is officially a backronym for "America's Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response" but was originally named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old child who was abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas in 1996.

AMBER Alerts are distributed via commercial radio stations, Internet radio, satellite radio, television stations, and cable TV by the Emergency Alert System and NOAA Weather Radio[4][5] (where they are termed "Child Abduction Emergency" or "Amber Alerts"). The alerts are also issued via e-mail, electronic traffic-condition signs, the LED billboards which are located outside of newer Walgreens locations,[6] along with the LED/LCD signs of billboard companies such as Clear Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor and Lamar,[7] or through wireless device SMS text messages. AMBER Alert has also teamed up with Google[8] and Facebook [9]to relay information regarding an AMBER Alert to an ever growing demographic.

[Junkenstein]

So this would extend to "missing" children fairly easily I guess?

[Elder Iptuous]

amber alerts are, from what i've heard, pretty effective.
i know they're freaking pervasive.
you'll be driving down the road, and the radio will cut to an alert describing the child, last known location, and usually the description of a car/license plate to be on the lookout for.  then it shows up on the LED billboards (which damn near a quarter of them are, here in DFW), and also the road signs that give traffic updates flash the make/model/license.  it's damn near impossible to not look around and see if that car's around you, so i can see why it's a hell of a tool that casts a wide and effective net.

lately i noticed that the signs (but not the radio) have been alerting to 'missing elderly' as well, giving the vehicle descriptions.

[Cain]

Well, as anyone who has ever watched a cop show knows, the first 24 hours of a kidnapping are the most critical.

If it's for profit, you can get the kidnappers before they manage to stash the child somewhere safe and isolated.  If it's for more perverse reasons, you can usually rescue the child while they are still alive.  Either way, the Amber Alerts are a fairly good idea.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

amber alerts are, from what i've heard, pretty effective.
i know they're freaking pervasive.
you'll be driving down the road, and the radio will cut to an alert describing the child, last known location, and usually the description of a car/license plate to be on the lookout for.  then it shows up on the LED billboards (which damn near a quarter of them are, here in DFW), and also the road signs that give traffic updates flash the make/model/license.  it's damn near impossible to not look around and see if that car's around you, so i can see why it's a hell of a tool that casts a wide and effective net.

lately i noticed that the signs (but not the radio) have been alerting to 'missing elderly' as well, giving the vehicle descriptions.

I heard one recently. They called it a "silver alert".

Amber Alerts are great, but with this, they might broaden them to include all kinds of shit, like non-custodial parents stuck in traffic trying to get the kid home after a legit visit.

Stelz
Knows Amurka(TM).

[Elder Iptuous]

a 'silver alert'?  that's.... i dunno, it sounds... patronizing?
when i first saw one it struck me as odd.  the CT lobe in my brain kicked in, and it seemed to me that if i were the authority and wanted to put out an APB to the general public with impunity (i.e. find this person for me and never-you-mind why) i would do it under the auspice of a missing elderly person.  it conjures the image of a confused old person driving their land yacht when they are supposed to be monitored at all times for their own safety.
it hits the feel good center because you are helping a helpless person.
it hits the fear proactive center in that you are removing a potential threat on the road.
it doesn't hit the fear avoidance center that might prevent someone from involving themselves in reporting a crime like kidnapping.


i'd be curious to see numbers on the effective difference in putting out an alert for a vehicle under missing child v. missing elderly....

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/21/17048962-al-qaidas-22-tips-on-how-to-avoid-drones?lite

[Elder Iptuous]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/21/17048962-al-qaidas-22-tips-on-how-to-avoid-drones?lite

interesting.  i like how they are planting trees as part of their strategy to protect themselves from the drones.  perhaps a PR campaign needs to be engineered showing smiling AQ fighters planting trees in an environmentalist pastiche.  could cause some interesting mental states in some people....

[Cain]

Some interesting info on the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department:

https://www.nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/sbcs

SBCS is in charge of policing Victorville and the surrounding subprime desert, so I know a thing or two about the force. If Dorner thought the Los Angeles Police Department was racist, corrupt and violent, well...

Dealing with the SBCS is like taking a trip to the deep South, minus the southern hospitality and charm. The force is staffed by a tight good ol' boys network drawn from a base of white ultra-conservative ex-military types, overseen by corrupt judges and a municipal government that's deep in the pocket of ruthless real estate speculators. It's distinguished by brazen graft, police brutality and a general disregard for lawful policing.

SBCS deputies once drew their guns on NSFWCORP senior editor Mark Ames while he was a guest at my double-wide trailer in Victorville back in 2010. They grabbed him while he was taking a walk around the neighborhood, saying that he matched a description of some car thief operating in the area. They cuffed him, then took his keys, entered my house without a warrant, rifled through my undies and inspected my closets. In the end, they found a small stash of what appeared to be marijuana and, it has been alleged, a mysterious white crystalline powder piled on a small mirror, along with an Iranian banknote nailed to the wall — but apparently got spooked by Ames' journalistic bonafides, particularly when one of the deputies recognized him from MSNBC. They let him go with a stern warning.