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How much trouble...

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A.LeClair said:
Doubt it would get near it. Wonder how they would dispatch of something so small though.
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Dunno - the demo videos show them testing these things in the Nevada desert - wonder if they were ever tempted?
 
Rick Deckard said:
Dunno - the demo videos show them testing these things in the Nevada desert - wonder if they were ever tempted?
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I wonder if we're going to see some hoaxed vids with these models now. You know, some idiot posting to youtube claiming the Government is harassing them each day by sending stealth craft over their house etc. Or perhaps some people will modify the model and make a ufo vid. Expensive toy though.
 
A.LeClair said:
I wonder if we're going to see some hoaxed vids with these models now. You know, some idiot posting to youtube claiming the Government is harassing them each day by sending stealth craft over their house etc. Or perhaps some people will modify the model and make a ufo vid. Expensive toy though.
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My first posted stated $3600 - I removed that figure because they've stated it as the 'overhaul cost' - is that a typo? Did they mean 'overall cost'?

I think we're gonna see lots of these in our skies over here in the UK - many cities have police helicopters to track criminals, but a fleet of these things would be far more cost effective. Well, perhaps not this particular model, but I have seen more sophisticated UAVs that have the ability to automatically lock onto and track vehicles and people...the "Ministry of Peace" (AKA the Home Office) has probably already ordered a few hundred...

...and if they can make them solar-powered, like some of NASA's prototypes, then they could just have fleets of these things forever circling over our cities.
 
I don't know what they meant by overhaul cost either.

Let us know if you start to see them. I doubt it will be any time soon. Something like that woulda caused a stir already and we'd be hearing all sorts of protests about it.
 
A.LeClair said:
I don't know what they meant by overhaul cost either.

Let us know if you start to see them. I doubt it will be any time soon. Something like that woulda caused a stir already and we'd be hearing all sorts of protests about it.
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Probably be a few years yet - we currently have about 4 million CCTV cameras. They estimate that figure will rise to 8 million by 2012 - about 1 camera for every 8 people in the country - so, perhaps they haven't considered using UAVs just yet...
 
Rick Deckard said:
Probably be a few years yet - we currently have about 4 million CCTV cameras. They estimate that figure will rise to 8 million by 2012 - about 1 camera for every 8 people in the country - so, perhaps they haven't considered using UAVs just yet...
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Wow. That's a lot of cams. Seems ridiculous.

How do your cops catch criminals with no guns? Your criminals are nicer than ours (I'm in the US).

Reminds me of Bill Hicks' bit on English crime. I'd post a link to it but there are wurdy durds in the vid. Those interested type in "AMV Bill Hicks The Hooligans" in youtube.
 
Not a typo. Previous listing is "Time before overhaul" at 3000 hours, so the "overhaul cost" makes sense in context.
 
A.LeClair said:
How do your cops catch criminals with no guns? Your criminals are nicer than ours (I'm in the US).
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Well, occasionally the police do get shot (and sometimes killed), but if they do spot a weapon they can call for special armed backup teams, who occasionally make mistakes and kill innocent people...

The CCTV cameras don't prevent crime, they just capture the event as evidence...what the Government should be doing is looking at the causes of crime. They don't. Instead they invest billions in crime detection rather than crime prevention. Idiots.
 
Rick Deckard said:
Well, occasionally the police do get shot (and sometimes killed), but if they do spot a weapon they can call for special armed backup teams, who occasionally make mistakes and kill innocent people...

The CCTV cameras don't prevent crime, they just capture the event as evidence...what the Government should be doing is looking at the causes of crime. They don't. Instead they invest billions in crime detection rather than crime prevention. Idiots.
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You don't think it acts like a deterrent at all?
 
A.LeClair said:
You don't think it acts like a deterrent at all?
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Only if the 'perpetrator' knows they are on camera and then only if they think they'll do time for the crime - if they face a fine or community service (which is likely as our UK prisons are full), then it's no deterrent...more like an 'occupational hazard'.

The camera's main effect is to displace the crime to areas that don't have them - which of course then encourages those areas to install cameras too. Walk in any town in the UK and you can expect to be tracked all way.

Of course, when every square-foot of the UK is on camera, crime will cease to be a problem. Yeah, right.
 
Rick Deckard said:
Only if the 'perpetrator' knows they are on camera and then only if they think they'll do time for the crime - if they face a fine or community service (which is likely as our UK prisons are full), then it's no deterrent...more like an 'occupational hazard'.

The camera's main effect is to displace the crime to areas that don't have them - which of course then encourages those areas to install cameras too. Walk in any town in the UK and you can expect to be tracked all way.

Of course, when every square-foot of the UK is on camera, crime will cease to be a problem. Yeah, right.
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Sounded like the cams were already everywhere over there. I'm sure it lessens crime. It will never kill it all though. It's like radar cams here in the States. Only the biggest idiots speed through them knowingly. Most people slow down.
 
A.LeClair said:
It's like radar cams here in the States. Only the biggest idiots speed through them knowingly. Most people slow down.
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I think we have the worst of them too - we have speeding cameras that read your number plate several times along a route, time how long it takes you to get from 'A' to 'B' and then calculate your average speed. If the result indicates that you must have broken the speed limit at some point, then your issued a penalty.

London also have cameras that read your number plate and issue road charges. That's gonna be rolled out to other cities. Then we are having road tolling across the country - the final technology hasn't been decided, but they're considering logging the journeys of every vehicle in the country by some sort of GPS system. They're trying to price the motorist off the road - but they offer no alternative; the public transport system is woefully inadequate.

BTW, petrol is currently running at $9 a gallon - wanna come and live here?
 
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