North Dakota Uses Predator Drone to Bust Family for "Taking" 6 Cows

Originally posted by Pervius
Lesson learned:


If some idiot lets their cows loose and they are on your land:

Crash your car into them and SUE the cows owners for letting them loose. $50,000 to replace your SUV, $100,000 for medical bills, $500,000 for pain & suffering, $400,000 for loss of income as you couldn't work, $1.6 million for your lawyer.


Get smart North Dakota.

Or,,,,,,,,,, as an alternative. Just give them back.

This is farmland. The cows weren't wandering through subdivisions, they wandered from one field to another field. Miles and miles of fenceline sometimes needs maintenance. Neighbors often look out for one another. It is the right thing to do.

The way some people are going on you'd think it was armed with Hellfires and exterminated the entire family. At the end of the day they wouldn't return property.
I also noticed the op carefully edited out part of the opening statements in the Daily Mail article he quoted (without actually posting it as a quote):

He quoted:

The Brossart's alleged crime? They wouldn't give back three cows and their calves that wandered onto their 3,000-acre farm this summer.
The same aerial vehicles used by the CIA to track down and assassinate terrorists and militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan are now being deployed by cops to spy on Americans in their own backyards.

And omitted the previous sentence:

Meet the Brossarts, a North Dakota family deemed so dangerous that the local sheriff needed unleashed an unmanned Predator drone to help bring them in.

Emphasis mine. I don't blame him/her, it kind of takes the edge of things.. Even though it's obvious it was unarmed and anyone reading the article would see. But still, having that bit in there doesn't help the war drums get going or people fired up as much as without it, does it?

Local authorities say the Brossarts are known for being armed, anti-government separatists whose sprawling farm is used as a compound. Rodney Brossart, 55, and his wife Susan live in a house and a trailer and two RVs with seven of their eight adult children.

Well, people's lifestyle is up to them. I guess a lot of people here would also say that "anti-government separatists" just means they're some sort of heroes, that err.... won't return other people's property in this case. Being anti-government doesn't mean you have to be some sort of scum at the end of the day, hell who isn't 'anti-government' these days anyway?
And lets face it, looking at the pics and reading the description I can't help but feel they're only a few generations away from 'The Hills have Eyes', which is kind of ironic considering the topic.

When the cattle wandered onto the Brossarts' land, Sheriff Kelly Janke, who patrols a county of just 3,000 people, rounded up some sheriff's deputies and arrested Mr Brossart for failing to report the stray livestock.
They also took away his daughter, Abby, after she allegedly hit an officer during the arrest.

OK, so Mr Brossart was arrested for not reporting the stray livestock, an offence. His daughter was arrested for assaulting an officer, another offence. OK cool, so are we all OK with this so far? Or are they heroes?

When cops returned to collect the lost cattle, three of Brossart's sons - Alex, Jacob and Thomas - confronted Sheriff Janke with rifles and shotguns and would not allow officers on the farm.

Oh dear :-/ That's a bit naughty. It's not like they haven't done anything wrong and the officer's don't have a just cause is it.. Threatening people with guns is a bit nasty really.

That's when the sheriff summoned a $154 million MQ-9 Predator B drone from nearby Grand Forks Air Force Base, where it was patrolling the US-Canida border for the US Department of Homeland Security.
Using a handheld device that picked up the video camera footage from the spy plane, Sheriff Janke was able to watch the movements of everyone on the farm.
During an 16-hour standoff, the sheriff and his deputies waited until they could see the remaining Brossarts put down their weapons. Then, dressed in SWAT gear, they stormed the compound and arrested the three Brossart sons. No shots were fired.

Ah.... So the unarmed UAV was used in such a way it enabled the arrests to be made without any shots being fired or anyone being hurt! Or would we have preferred a shootout? Maybe some of the people here would have done a little squirm if the report had read a couple of officers had been fatally injured? I do wonder....

The chances of anything like this being deployed due to the limited resources and costs in a way that will affect anyone not doing anything wrong are pretty low.
It's also an incredibly effective way of achieving the end goal in a far more efficient and cost effective way without the drawbacks of a noisy helicopter.
Of course, with the new technology in micro-UAVS becoming readily available this could all change. But nothings stopping you from having a go! Go buy a quadcopter or even a normal radio controlled aircraft, Ardupilot, the GPS module, a camera and have a go yourself! You can build your own UAV that could fly for several miles and take photos at set waypoints before returning, all controlled from your laptop, for probably under $1000 !!

And if you want a real reason to get scared, wait until you're being chased by swarms of these babies! :-D

Originally posted by camaro68ss
Wait until they start arming these drones with missles and cannons. you all know its coming.

^^Coming, I'd bet that the major departments already have the ability to do so in short order!

Hence my heavier caliber rifles to ensure I'm able to punch through protective armor, I'm no fool. An idiot maybe, but no fool!

Derek

I see they are bring home what they have learned to do in Iraq. The US military was busy protecting Iraq from those pesky sheep smugglers. And the reports were classified top secret.

BORDER OPS BY IBP: ___ DET, ___ CF INJ/DAMAGE 2006-01-26 13:30:00
Border Ops, MND-N, 0 casualties
AT 1930C, SEVERAL DIFFERENT GROUPS OF SHEEP SMUGGLING ACTIVITY WAS OBSERVED FROM ___ TO ___ IN ___ PROVINCE, NORTH WEST OF ___ VIC OF BORDER FORT ( ). //___ SWT CONDUCTING BORDER RECONNAISSANCE S

BORDER OPS BY TF -___ AR IVO : ___ DET, ___ INJ/DAMAGE 2006-05-16 07:15:00
Border Ops, MND-N, 0 casualties
AT 1315D, TF -___ AR, REPORTED A SMUGGLING INCIDENT IN THE ___ PROVINCE, NORTH OF ___, VICINITY ___. JCC REPORTED THAT THREE (___) SMUGGLERS WERE DETAINED TRYING TO SMUGGLE ___ SHEEP, TWO (___) AK-__...

It would be interesting to know if they microchiped the cows and then tracked them with the drone.

reply to post by camaro68ss


It was actually a US Customs and Border Protection Drone... See this thread:
For the First Time, Predator Drones Participate in Civilian Arrests on U.S. Soil

Originally posted by grey580
How is this any different than the cops using a helicopter to do an aerial search?
I think that it's probably cheaper to use the drone than send up a guy in a chopper.

In any case. Unless there is some sort of legal case pending. The guy who owned the cows has every right to get them back. And if the police want to use a UAV then who cares.

This is a civil matter. The owner of the lost cows should of just sued them in civil court. So the police and the Courts are going to bat for a rancher who was careless with their cattle. Sounds more like an issue of local corruption then anything else.

reply to post by alfa1


sounds like a search warrant would be easy to get.....served by a SWAT team

reply to post by korathin


No but it could be also after the fact

Gee what a wonderful thing to look forward too... Sigh!

According to the article below they did not "take" the cows the they wondered on to thier "3000" ace farm and they failed to report it... Wow what a crime against humanity...Sigh! Sounds like that sheriff was looking for an excuse to arrest these folks.

http:// www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073248/Local-cops-used-Predator-drone-arrest-North-Dakota-farm-family-stealing-6-cows.html

Originally posted by hawkiye
Gee what a wonderful thing to look forward too... Sigh!

According to the article below they did not "take" the cows the they wondered on to thier "3000" ace farm and they failed to report it... Wow what a crime against humanity...Sigh! Sounds like that sheriff was looking for an excuse to arrest these folks.

http:// www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073248/Local-cops-used-Predator-drone-arrest-North-Dakota-farm-family-stealing-6-cows.html

edit on 14-12-2011 by hawkiye because: (no reason given)

I bet if the cattle wandered from a private farm to a corporate farm the officer would say "it is a civil matter".

reply to post by korathin


You are incorrect sir.
Please reread the article.
Their property is on someone elses land.
They have the right to get it back.
If someone fails to return your property to you. You then have the right to contact the police to get it back.
This wasn't a civil matter it was a criminal one.

If you read the article you would of noticed the part about the 16hr stand off between police and these folks.

reply to post by grey580


No it WAS a civil matter. Cattle crossing property lines has been a problem since ancient times. Those who posses the cattle tend to be more in the right than those who let their cattle escape and steal feed from the farm they cross into. OH you didnt think about that did you. These cows came onto the ranch and took up with other cows already there. They surely ate feed set out for the land owners cows so did the owner of the escaped cows offer to pay for the lost feed? Thats a civil matter and has been for 5000 years.

This really has nothing to do with cows its about the fact that the local law men have it in for this family because they are associates of some of the "sovereign citizen"movement. Just for the record its not illegal to open carry a firearm in ND, It not illegal to be on your property and carry a firearm. Its not illegal to tell the cops to get lost if they are not arresting anyone and dont have a warrant. I dont have any love for the SC movement they seem to be a bunch of idiots and thats the whole point. The drone use is first tried out on some weirdo to gauge the public reaction then its amped up to being used on "normal" people. Since you have not doen anything wrong you dont have anything to fear right?

reply to post by Dragoon01


Somehow I doubt this was a civil matter.
I don't think the Judge would of ordered a search warrant to recover the property if it was.

www.wday.com...

But even if it was a civil matter. I don't think the brossarts would have gone to court to fight out feed/land issues.

btw. they were involved in a months long standoff?
www.wday.com...

reply to post by grey580


Not making myself clear sorry,
It was a civil matter that turned into a criminal matter when the cops got themselves involved. The owner of the cattle should have just filed a lawsuit. My understanding , and maybe I am not getting this part of the time line correct is that a prior incident has the cops gunning for this family. This cow situation was an opportunity for the cops to confront them again and they took it up eagerly.

to all you sheeple that think this is acceptable:

1) Just how much money per hour does it cost to launch, fly, operate effectively, and recover a drone?
2) And just how much cash in fines will they get from arresting the "rustlers"?

And some of you accept this as a good thing?
No wonder we are broke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So.... we use a miltimillion dollar piece of military hardware, costing litterally thosands of tax dollars just to launch it, we take a highly trained operator, that we paid to train to help defend our country, and make him a local sherrif's posse?
"Catchin cattle rustlers"?
What is this Bizzarro world?


Everyone who voted for, or approved this being done should be fired, arrested for misuse of government funds, and then held responsible financially for any issues stemming from said bad decision.
They should also have to pay back any pay they recieved, as they lied, and said they had no mental illness.
You would have to be insane to think in this economy, that this level of waste is acceptable.

reply to post by BadNinja68


The use of the drone allowed the arrests to be made without anyone being hurt or killed, what price do you put on a human life?

Originally posted by AgentSmith
reply to post by BadNinja68

 

The use of the drone allowed the arrests to be made without anyone being hurt or killed, what price do you put on a human life?

Human life?
Way to go overboard..just like that Sherriff.

BTW, isn't it illegal for the soldiers operating the Drone to use it on US citizens?



At what point did this escalate to the level that we needed to bring in a Predator Drone for a civil matter?
After the Sherriff overstepped his authority and turned a civil matter into a national headline.

If the Sherrif had called the local DA, he would have learned that NO crime was commited.
The Cattle owners should have been fined for not keeping their cattle contained, and advised to sue for the return of their property.
Leash laws anyone?
Now who's at fault?



No theft occured.
Negligence ont he part of the cattle owner caused this fiasco.

The Sherrif escalated the matter, by not being informed on how to enforce regulations ( not laws, these are ordinaces that determine property rights that were violated).
He has access to a SWAT team and that wasn't enough?



Again, using a 150 million dollar predator drone to spy on 3 cattle rustlers is just mind-blowingly stupid misued of government funds and military equipment.
I say lock that Sherrif up, and CM the soldiers that violated the constitution.

reply to post by BadNinja68


Did you not read the article?

You are assuming the police escalated. I suggest you re read the articles and do some research.

Armed with a search warrant, Nelson County Sheriff Kelly Janke went looking for six missing cows on the Brossart family farm in the early evening of June 23. Three men brandishing rifles chased him off, he said.

Does this sound like the police escalated things?
Had the family just given the cows back things would of not gotten out of hand.