Utah city may use blimp as anti-crime spy in the sky

Utah city may use blimp as anti-crime spy in the sky

www.reuters.com

A proposed unmanned floating airship surveillance system is being hailed by city officials in Ogden, Utah as one way to fight crime in its neighborhoods

The airship entails military technology now available to local law enforcement

"We anticipate using it mainly at night. The cameras have incredible night vision to see with tremendous clarity daytime and nighttime. It will be used like a patrol car.

"It's extremely silent. It can hover or stay stationery or silently meander over pre-pr

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
US military testing high-tech dirigibles in Utah

Look at the thread in the related threads section below
This was initially for military purposes but now it's used to spy on the public.

This should be a lesson for everyone, when they see testing on domestic soil and they say it's for overseas.... maybe it's not.

I don't know if I am necessarily against this, but........
I'm unsure!

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Ok, so the city in question is Ogden. If you do some research, you will find that Ogden, UT has some of the highest crime rates of any city in Utah and the highest concentration of gang members as well.
It is a foolish endeavor. It will float at night to try to watch down on the city. I give it 3 days before it is shoot down and rendered a failure, and waste of tax money.

Invasion of privacy?

The criminals will just shoot the blimp down.

reply to post by macman


im sorry but gangs in utah? isn't that an oxymoron? what do they, stay up passed midnight? gmab

This has to be the BIG BLACK DELTA! I saw this one night go over my house. I did not think it was UFO but this thing is pretty big and silent, you can not hear it. I swear on my life I saw a silent huge blimp slowly go over my house and off into the horizon. It might of been them testing it. When you see this thing your jaw drops.!

Originally posted by tonypazzohome
reply to post by macman

 

im sorry but gangs in utah? isn't that an oxymoron? what do they, stay up passed midnight? gmab

Nope, oxy-Mormon. hahaha.
But seriously. Yep, gangs here are primarily Mexican and Tongan.

They already use blimps in the Los Angeles area, and tons of drug shipments have been brought in and shipped out while these blimps were circling overhead.

Utah is as good a place as any for this "law enforcement" platform... Which in my opinion has proven itself completely ineffective, unreliable and a waste of time and money.

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
They already use blimps in the Los Angeles area, and tons of drug shipments have been brought in and shipped out while these blimps were circling overhead.

Utah is as good a place as any for this "law enforcement" platform... Which in my opinion has proven itself completely ineffective, unreliable and a waste of time and money.

Maybe not a total waste. Someone is sure going to get a kick out of it when they shoot it down.

Here is a good article the Guardian posted yesterday on the subject of drones, covering non-military applications:

Attack of the Drones

They're already being used by the UK police, with microdrones deployed to monitor the V festival in Staffordshire in 2007. Fire brigades send similar machines to hover above major blazes, feeding images back to their control rooms. And civilian spin-offs include cheaper aerial photography, airborne border patrols and safety inspections of high-rise buildings.

Border patrols present a further opportunity for deployment. The US Customs and Border Protection Agency has announced that it is patrolling all 2,000 miles of the Mexican border with Predator drones equipped with night vision cameras. Frontex, the European border agency, has held a drone demonstration conference in Bulgaria, while the UK Border Agency says: "[We] do not rule out the use of drones in the future if they can be shown to provide a value for money increase in our border security."

At least four police forces – Essex, Merseyside, Staffordshire and the British Transport police – have bought or used microdrones. Last summer the Serious Organised Crime Agency published a tender notice requesting information on "a fully serviced, airborne, surveillance-ready platform for covert observation" provided by either drones or manned aircraft. And several fire brigades – including West Midlands and South Wales – regularly send up drones to check on the spread of blazes.

reply to post by ModernAcademia

Utah's law enforcement statistics confirm a relatively low violent crime rate, while property offenses occurring at locations across the state historically exceed the level recorded nationwide.

Nevertheless, the state's property offense and overall crime levels have decreased by nearly 30.6 percent after peaking in 1995.

Since 1960, the state's crime rate has generally followed the national trend, indicated a recent research study conducted by the Utah Foundation, an independent public policy organization.

www.sunad.com...

Looks like a testing ground since the crime rate is low considered to other states. These blimps have had much discussion in the past………I am sure that these “surveillance” blimps are the same ones being reported a couple years back……..There should be a couple old youtube clips that caught these things sailing in the air…

I see both the pros and cons of things like this. Gut feeling tells me that at this juncture, the pros still outweigh the cons. But who knows. If we implement things like this in an unfearful way to use them for good and are also vigilant in monitoring abuses and corruption, it could be a good thing. Then, if it crosses the line, destroy it

Originally posted by tonypazzohome
reply to post by macman

 

im sorry but gangs in utah? isn't that an oxymoron? what do they, stay up passed midnight? gmab

haha,
contrary to popular belief utah isnt full of polygamists in an amish style community, there is a big problem with mexican and Polynesian gangs in utah, not to mention utah is notorious for the aryan gangs in the prison.
www.nationalgangcenter.gov...

www.rickross.com...

Originally posted by macman

Originally posted by tonypazzohome
reply to post by macman

 

im sorry but gangs in utah? isn't that an oxymoron? what do they, stay up passed midnight? gmab

Nope, oxy-Mormon. hahaha.
But seriously. Yep, gangs here are primarily Mexican and Tongan.

The Samoans are the real badasses, when they come around the Tongans and Mexicans retreat... Fear the Samoans.

If Utah law enforcement is interested in confronting gangs, they should recruit the Samoans!

No blimps required.

Think this is the blimp their talking about?
Rise of the Blimps- The US Armys LEMV

What is the difference between placing cameras everywhere, and flying aerial cameras 24/7?
It seems to me to be invasion of privacy on an unprecedented scale....
The future is a survielance nightmare....these systems are being developed with public funds to monitor the people from the sky.
I deplore this sh&*t

reply to post by macman


They are not easy to shoot down.

Unless the gangs in Utah have .50 cal AA guns, they will not be shot down.

The materials used in the fabric stop small arms fire.