Originally posted by stumason

Anyhoo, I fear we may have strayed somewhat OT... Maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters and boats have, for a long time, been very useful in catching smugglers. If these are used in the same manner as manned aircraft are in that role, I see no issue. There is a "need" for it and it works.

The big difference is that patrol craft and the like can generally do something about this when they come across it. Drones, being nothing more than an 'eye in the sky' can't and still rely on 'men on the ground/sea' to follow it up and do something about it (unless this is heading towards armeddrones). Whilst helicopters and employing police &c isn't cheap, drones and remote pilots won't be and they're still going to need people to get out there and catch criminals monitored by drones. If this is a PFI or PPP deal, then the taxpayer will pay through the nose for this and the project will be more expensive (and less efficient) than what it is expected to replace. Also, if it is a PFI/PPP thing (on top of it being EU) any culpability and accountability will be intangible and impossible to track down. Nothing will ever be anyone's fault even if 'lessons will be learned' as is usually rolled-out when the SHTF.

Is this going to be a Big Society thing like Cameron expected with the coast guards? Cut funding and just expect RNLI volunteers to do more work? Sack more coast guards, police and immigration, then use taxpayer money for drones and then try and jolly everyone up who lives near the coast to hang around with sticks and farming utensils as the smugglers get closer to the coast? LOL!

I understand what you're saying about feature creep though, but the Police already float about in there choppers looking for anyone with a slightly warmer than usual roof..

Yes, they do. Hence the inevitability of function creep. Coasts today, urban and city areas tomorrow. I presume you're familiar with the concept of 'panopticon', well these will be flying panopiticons watching you 'just in case', and no longer restricted or tethered to particular areas. To paraphrase a meme of a few years ago: you don't have to go to prison now, the prison comes to you!

As has already been stated by Stu and Mar, The surveilance of Uk lands is nothing new in this part of the world,
The BN ISLANDER (Spy twin prop) was used for counter terrorist measures in N,Ireland for a good decade using thermal and IR lenses borrowed from the Midge drone system,

By the way I was doing alot of research conserning WACO (Branch Dividion) and the RAF "loaned" an Islander to the ATF for that period of time,

The reason for this article i believe is to "test the water" concerning unmanned flight in UK airspace, Which is preaty restrictive in the UK,
Then flog the UAVs to the local Police forces for "crowd control" and the like.

This is not cool, how long until one of them crash into something substantial, pedestrian or otherwise. Not to mention the intrusion into British peoples privacy. You would think artical 8 would prevent this type of thing from happening, but i guess not!

Originally posted by stumason
Whilst not totally against the idea, as we've already got helo's and the like and still no "Police State", it is what this might lead to further down the road which is of some concern, though given our Politicians bungling no doubt this whole thing will be shelved, or scaled back or not even work as intended anyway...

I don't think any of the 'Police State' worry-mongers have ever claimed that it would happen over-night with coppers kicking in doors at dawn and people in camps by tea-time. We'll walk, blindly, into one. Footstep by footstep, without any real concern where we're walking to. I'm not entirely convinced a Police State will be engineered wholesale either with some master-plan and schematics on a polished wood table. I think half the people that will eventually create it will be so concerned with appeasing Daily Mail readers, the people frightened of paedophiles hiding in milk crates near schools and Muslim terrorists blowing-up their hospital baby units with dirty bombs deployed from space that even they won't be fully appreciative of what killing these (false) bogeymen will cost us in terms of liberties.

I genuinely think that was the case with New Labour and ID cards. I was dead against them, hated New Labour for it but I'm sure they were a 'gift' to various security/technology companies that were schmoozing the party at the time and also a sop to those concerned with their balls-up of an immigration policy. ID cards and databases were sold to the public as a panacea to stop terrorism, paedos, ID theft, illegal immigrants and the like with a technology that was dubious at best. IT firms must have been laughing up their sleeves, as they did before New Labour and as they have since. Cameron's Coalition are no better - maybe even worse considering they platformed on the mess New Labour made of civil liberties. Any move down this road at all shows them for being hypocrites.

The worst of it is, with a 'we'll see...' attitude, by the time we can see, it will be too late!

It's not like they're using these to hover outside your bathroom while you're in the shower.

Although, a couple of weeks ago, I had a helicopter hovering over my mother's house in the middle of the night, complete with lights shining down through the neighbouring gardens (and through the bloody curtains).

Assuming in the real world, i.e. not banksters and politicians, the less you are paid, the lower the value/worth of your job. uk border officials are not paid a lot of money, therefore their jobs are not that important. Couple that with the redundancies of the same group and I think it's fair to say that the uk isn't that bothered about illegals/terrorists invading the uk.
But, now gvt is saying different because it will spend a fortune on drones that will prevent illegals/terrorists from invading our shores. How will they do that? are they able to land on the sea and robots pop out of them to arrest these miscreants and then send them back to, oh yes, back to where exactly?
How stupid do these people think we are? Drones are not for the purpose we are being brainwashed about, they are for use on the ordinary citizens when we get too uppity because we can't buy food or heat our homes. Give a gvt power and they will abuse it. They even refer to themselves as being 'in power', too arrogant to realise they are 'in office'
But never mind, if we've got nothing to hide, we've got nothing to fear.

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