Denver Drones

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oscar77

And I thought, FWIW, that a news article not too long ago (Maybe Boulder???) was already using them.
There was some shooting/man with a gun and they used one.

The future is now old man.

And this whole "privacy thing" ship sailed long long ago.
Drones etc makes no difference.

Having cameras video whatever you want to call up in the air it was settled LONG AGO too.
Its no different - legally- if the Cops were in a plane or helicopter or using a satellite.
I dont agree with it but this "OMG we are losing our privacy" thought process died a long long time ago.

Yup. It died because of the way our judicial system was constructed.

Case 1: A absolutely shitty person was caught using something that was a grey area (drone in this case). Judge writes an opinion that justifies the use. It's appealed, appeal writes an opinion that justifies the use because they don't like the shitty person.

Case 2: A true privacy case arises where it is entirely BS, and the drone is a clear invasion of rights. However, Case #1 set a precedent, and now they follow it. Use of the drone is now justified.

Our judicial system unfortunately does not have real checks and balances, and adopted the system from the worst period of the middle ages, and judges are the most-career safe of any profession. The creep is unstoppable because judges rule based on their own discretion of "what they think is right", very few rule against their own concious based on the LAW and the RULES. Sometimes this works out for people, but it inevitably decays expected rights, and the discretion is often flat wrong. For a successful republic, we need the latter, that actually releases a serial killer if they fuck up the arrest/investigation/etc. Because otherwise, the justification to put away the serial killer is also used to put away the political dissident.