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Made in us
Last Remaining Whole C'Tan






Pleasant Valley, Iowa

How Two Police Drones Saved a Woman's Life

An innovative use of the surveillance technology in Virginia offers a reminder that there are often alternatives to confrontation.

After years of writing critically about police officers using excessive force and police departments abusing surveillance technology, I couldn’t be happier to relay a story in which cops used drones as a tool to help them avoid taking a life.

It began when a woman, 57, left Cocoa Beach, Florida, drove all the way to Stafford County, Virginia, pulled into a Walmart parking lot, backed her sedan up against a 16-wheeler cab with a sleeping trucker inside, and took out a silver revolver. “She kept talking to herself, yelling profanities and enticing us to shoot her, over and over and over again,” a local police officer later told The Washington Post.

Its was an apparent attempt at “suicide by cop.”

Desperate people like the Florida woman, who was reportedly down to her last $14, decide to provoke their own death by waving a gun or knife at a police officer, knowing law enforcement is trained to shoot if they feel their life is threatened. Cops who shoot in such situations were manipulated into doing so, but that doesn’t spare them from feelings of trauma or guilt for taking a human life. Some recall doing so as the worst moment in their careers or even their lives.

Fortunately, the Florida woman was not killed:

Rather than rush into a situation where they might have to fire, Stafford officials turned to technology: Police pilots flew two drones to monitor the woman from a safe distance and avoid putting officers in a direct confrontation. The airborne cameras gave authorities a close-up view of her and what she had in her car as she flitted between pacing outside and ducking back into the vehicle.

Worcester could see the label on the vodka bottle she lifted to wash down pills. He could tell SWAT officers when she had her finger on the trigger of her gun. And he could watch as her agitation ebbed and flowed.

That information helped police to safely and successfully evacuate the trucker from his cab, and eventually, to get an armored vehicle close enough to fill the woman’s car with pepper spray, enabling officers to grab, disarm, and arrest her.

The approach was innovative in its particulars and consistent with the premises that police-reform advocates assert in attempts to reduce the number of unjust or unnecessary killings. Among them: that whether someone lives or dies at the hand of a police officer often turns not on the last moment of an encounter, but whether officers are trained in deescalation and taught to avoid getting themselves into situations where using lethal force seems like their only option.

At times, it is the only option.

In this case, few would’ve questioned the use of lethal force had cops approached, reacted to the weapon, and shot to kill—yet there was, in fact, a better way. And it’s easy to think of other killings that might’ve been avoided with the same approach. Think of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy who was holding a pellet gun in a Cleveland park when local cops pulled up right next to him and shot almost immediately. If those police officers had the same tools at their disposal and the same tactical inclinations, Rice would likely still be alive today.

Of course, a tool’s proliferation can lead to new kinds of abuses if proper limits are not imposed. Police drones can be so useful in cases like the one in Virginia “precisely because they're so good at gathering information on individuals' behavior,” Alec Ward writes at Reason. “The deputies in Stafford County evidently felt comfortable attempting de-escalation because, using drones, they could watch the woman so closely they felt they could essentially read her mind. That's an extraordinary capability that could be misused in all sorts of less benign contexts.”

He doesn’t want to ban police drones.

“But the public should not take it on faith that police will use drones only in benevolent ways,” he correctly advises. “Luckily, there's a fairly simple way out of the conundrum: preemptive restriction. If the residents of Stafford County want their police officers to use drones to help contain unstable armed people, but not, say, to enforce speed limits or search private lands for marijuana, they can push their elected lawmakers to write such guidelines into applicable laws.”

Meanwhile, the public should recognize that technology is changing police work in ways that are analogous to changes that the military has already experienced. Traditionally, cops are praised most vociferously for exhibitions of physical courage. Now that drones and other technology are available, however, lots of situations, including standoffs, can unfold in ways that reduce the need for courage, the threat to police, and the number of situations where lethal force is used.

The public can encourage police officers to exploit better approaches by praising innovative tactics that spare a life as enthusiastically as acts of physical heroism. In that spirit, three cheers for the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office.

They protected and served.


Always nice to read a story like this.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Respect to the guy who subscribed just to post a massive ASCII dong in the chat and immediately get banned.

 Flinty wrote:
The benefit of slate is that its.actually a.rock with rock like properties. The downside is that it's a rock
 
   
Made in us
5th God of Chaos! (Yea'rly!)




The Great State of Texas

Indeed, very cool

-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
 
   
Made in nl
Pragmatic Primus Commanding Cult Forces






US police did not shoot someone? That is indeed a notable news story . Let us hope they keep improving.
They handled this difficult situation very well.

Error 404: Interesting signature not found

 
   
Made in fi
Confessor Of Sins




Cheers, that's some great thinking there! It spared the life of a suicidal person and spared the cops from having to take a life. Three golden stars for Stafford County Police!

It's always a hard place to be used for suicide, whether it's a cop facing someone like this woman or a trucker seeing a sedan steer right at him for a frontal collision there's no possible way to avoid. Many who get used like this have nightmares about it for years and might be unable to continue with their jobs for fear they'll get into the same situation again (or freeze when something reminds them of it). Too bad suicidal persons rarely stop to consider what their decision might cost another person.
   
Made in us
Humming Great Unclean One of Nurgle






Smart thinking & good work from those cops.

Road to Renown! It's like classic Path to Glory, but repaired, remastered, expanded! https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/778170.page

I chose an avatar I feel best represents the quality of my post history.

I try to view Warhammer as more of a toolbox with examples than fully complete games. 
   
Made in gb
Sadistic Inquisitorial Excruciator




Thank god that poor woman is free to starve to death on her $14, and be unable to afford the mental health care she so desperately needs.

Disclaimer - I am a Games Workshop Shareholder. 
   
Made in ru
Lone Wolf Sentinel Pilot





Room

If you have a revolver, then you can get money. Also, if you have a gun, then you don't need police get involved in your death.

Mordant 92nd 'Acid Dogs'
The Lost and Damned
Inquisition
 
   
Made in us
5th God of Chaos! (Yea'rly!)




The Great State of Texas

AdmiralHalsey wrote:
Thank god that poor woman is free to starve to death on her $14, and be unable to afford the mental health care she so desperately needs.


The US has a wide variety of programs for that.

-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
 
   
Made in fi
Locked in the Tower of Amareo





AdmiralHalsey wrote:
Thank god that poor woman is free to starve to death on her $14, and be unable to afford the mental health care she so desperately needs.


Even america can't be crazy enough that's her only option? One would hope america which fancies itself leader of free world has basic tools of civilized country so that she gets help she needs and good job of police won't go to naught

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/02/18 17:40:14


2024 painted/bought: 109/109 
   
Made in us
5th God of Chaos! (Yea'rly!)




The Great State of Texas

tneva82 wrote:
AdmiralHalsey wrote:
Thank god that poor woman is free to starve to death on her $14, and be unable to afford the mental health care she so desperately needs.


Even america can't be crazy enough that's her only option? One would hope america which fancies itself leader of free world has basic tools of civilized country so that she gets help she needs and good job of police wuon't go to naught


Nope, nothing. welfare, Medicaid, none of that exists. It's all a smokescreen.

-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
 
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

Frazzie it may well be true that she was unaware of help options available to her because of the lack of a centralised health system.
She might also believe that 'Obamacare was repealed' from a hyped up news article somewhere and thus no help of any kind existed.

While in police custody she will be seen to, hopefully she will avoid prison and get meds. Even so she will likely be in custody long enough for meds to take effect, while the police decide what to charge her with.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/02/19 16:50:47


n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in us
Ollanius Pius - Savior of the Emperor






Gathering the Informations.

Frazzled wrote:
tneva82 wrote:
AdmiralHalsey wrote:
Thank god that poor woman is free to starve to death on her $14, and be unable to afford the mental health care she so desperately needs.


Even america can't be crazy enough that's her only option? One would hope america which fancies itself leader of free world has basic tools of civilized country so that she gets help she needs and good job of police wuon't go to naught


Nope, nothing. welfare, Medicaid, none of that exists. It's all a smokescreen.

Let's not pretend that welfare doesn't have extremely specific requirements; same as Medicaid.

You can call it a "smokescreen" all you want, but remember that one specific party keeps wanting to make it more and more onerous to be on welfare while crowing about people refusing to work and going onto welfare.

Orlanth wrote:Frazzie it may well be true that she was unaware of help options available to her because of the lack of a centralised health system.
She might also believe that 'Obamacare was repealed' from a hyped up news article somewhere and thus no help of any kind existed.

"Hyped up news article"? It literally is the case that a specific political party held fricking press conferences boasting their repeal of the mandate. It literally is the case that they have done everything they can at the national and state levels to conceal the fact that people could sign up for aid last year(look into it. The ACA enrollment numbers, despite having been extremely high, were in spite of cut enrollment dates, cut funding for advertising, cut funding for aid programs, etc).

Insurance and aid programs do not cover it in all states. Mental health in particular is something many insurance and aid programs will fight tooth and fricking nail to reimburse you for.
This is the part YOU need to understand before running your mouth off, Orlanth. Coverage is not the same in all places and in many states, onerous roadblocks are set up to prevent people from being able to use programs that their taxes go into.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/02/19 17:26:12


 
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

 Kanluwen wrote:

"Hyped up news article"? It literally is the case that a specific political party held fricking press conferences boasting their repeal of the mandate. It literally is the case that they have done everything they can at the national and state levels to conceal the fact that people could sign up for aid last year(look into it. The ACA enrollment numbers, despite having been extremely high, were in spite of cut enrollment dates, cut funding for advertising, cut funding for aid programs, etc).


This actually is my point. The ACA is still there, but there is a lot of misinformation around. Various measures have been attempted to kill the ACA and reported that the ACA is dead. Yet it is still a battleground and not dead yet. A distressed person might understandably believe that all state help has been axed because TYT says it has.

 Kanluwen wrote:

Insurance and aid programs do not cover it in all states. Mental health in particular is something many insurance and aid programs will fight tooth and fricking nail to reimburse you for.
This is the part YOU need to understand before running your mouth off, Orlanth. Coverage is not the same in all places and in many states, onerous roadblocks are set up to prevent people from being able to use programs that their taxes go into.


Actually once in custody a burden of care exists. Getting arrested may well be the optimum course of action for the woman in the OP, so long as it doesn't result in sustained jail time.

The medical insurance system in the US sucks, you have to be well or in service to government or a large corporation (at a level they care about) to get fair access that way. The mentally ill or disabled are fethed. No arguments there.

n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in us
Ollanius Pius - Savior of the Emperor






Gathering the Informations.

 Orlanth wrote:
 Kanluwen wrote:

"Hyped up news article"? It literally is the case that a specific political party held fricking press conferences boasting their repeal of the mandate. It literally is the case that they have done everything they can at the national and state levels to conceal the fact that people could sign up for aid last year(look into it. The ACA enrollment numbers, despite having been extremely high, were in spite of cut enrollment dates, cut funding for advertising, cut funding for aid programs, etc).


This actually is my point. The ACA is still there, but there is a lot of misinformation around. Various measures have been attempted to kill the ACA and reported that the ACA is dead. Yet it is still a battleground and not dead yet. A distressed person might understandably believe that all state help has been axed because TYT says it has.

Okay. Let me reiterate this for you:
The ACA is dead. The measures that it consisted of have been slated for repeal.

They, as mentioned, literally removed funding meant to advertise the ACA and to let people know it was still in effect.
They, as mentioned, literally cut down on the amount of time for enrollment.

 Kanluwen wrote:

Insurance and aid programs do not cover it in all states. Mental health in particular is something many insurance and aid programs will fight tooth and fricking nail to reimburse you for.
This is the part YOU need to understand before running your mouth off, Orlanth. Coverage is not the same in all places and in many states, onerous roadblocks are set up to prevent people from being able to use programs that their taxes go into.

Actually once in custody a burden of care exists. Getting arrested may well be the optimum course of action for the woman in the OP, so long as it doesn't result in sustained jail time.

"Burden of care" is judged by the state's psychiatrists and officials. There's a huge to do going on right now about a state messing with feminine hygiene products, and you somehow think that the mentally ill get treated right?


Crikes man, it's recently come to light that a prison(I want to say Ohio or Iowa, but I don't have a link handy on the story--look for "Red Bird Books") is refusing a charity book service's packages because they are "used books"--stating that books need to come directly from the seller. The whole reason why the program worked is that people donated their books when finished.

The medical insurance system in the US sucks, you have to be well or in service to government or a large corporation (at a level they care about) to get fair access that way. The mentally ill or disabled are fethed. No arguments there.

What you're missing on, again, is that you tried to claim that "she might not know". There's barriers to knowledge whether it be from fine print in insurance or the simple fact that she might not have been able to take time off from work to do the research.
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

It looks like you are basically angrily agreeing with me Kanluwen.

n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

When I read the headline, I expected to read how a drone was used to batter the gun from someone's hands.

That was not the case, and this makes much more sense.

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Made in us
5th God of Chaos! (Yea'rly!)




The Great State of Texas

Actually, now that you mention it, is there a drone yet that fire a paint ball gun? Police have those with pepper to subdue suspects in this type of situation.

We may have a capital idea here.

-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
 
   
Made in us
Proud Triarch Praetorian





Maybe these officers should be given a raise and promotion for taking a new technology and using it to save lives. They should probably also be sent to other areas so that they can teach officers in those areas how to use the drones effectively and ethically.

Not going to hold my breath.

 Frazzled wrote:
Actually, now that you mention it, is there a drone yet that fire a paint ball gun? Police have those with pepper to subdue suspects in this type of situation.

We may have a capital idea here.


Do you think we could mount a little leaf blower to it or something, put a roll of toilet paper on the end and fly around covering trees in it around Halloween?

You think you had it easy Fraz, but when I am old, kids will be TPing my yard from the safety of their bedrooms! WHO AM I SUPPOSED TO YELL AT TO STAY OFF MY LAWN?!

Boomers have it so easy.....

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/02/20 22:02:38


 
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

 Dreadwinter wrote:
Maybe these officers should be given a raise and promotion for taking a new technology and using it to save lives. They should probably also be sent to other areas so that they can teach officers in those areas how to use the drones effectively and ethically.


I don't think there an actual lesson to learn here.

So why did the police department monitor a situation with drones?

Because it is cheaper than using a police helicopter.

Drones are themselves an emerging technology, but they don't do anything new in this instance. Had a police helicopter been mobilised the same results could be achieved and it could be the 80's.


n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in us
Proud Triarch Praetorian





 Orlanth wrote:
 Dreadwinter wrote:
Maybe these officers should be given a raise and promotion for taking a new technology and using it to save lives. They should probably also be sent to other areas so that they can teach officers in those areas how to use the drones effectively and ethically.


I don't think there an actual lesson to learn here.

So why did the police department monitor a situation with drones?

Because it is cheaper than using a police helicopter.

Drones are themselves an emerging technology, but they don't do anything new in this instance. Had a police helicopter been mobilised the same results could be achieved and it could be the 80's.



Yeah, Police Helicopters are known for being very stealthy and having the ability to get up close enough to see if a finger is on the trigger.

Nothing to learn here guys. KEEP MOVING!

I just.... yeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh.
   
 
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