Small California Town to be Surveilled by Police Drones

Police in Redding, California are set to be equipped with drones after a $25,000 donation from a local church.

With a population of about 89,000, Redding is a small town when it comes to California. It’s the largest city near Mt. Shasta, but its crime is absolutely nothing compared to the closest major city, Sacramento.

It’s odd that this small city would receive police drones this early in the roll-out of police drones for forces all around the world.

City Council accepted the donation from Bethel church to buy a couple drones, and enable 6 officers to use them.

According to Redding:

“The donation drew some pushback from two people who spoke on the matter. David Robbins and Nicholas Gilliam both said they worried about possible Fourth Amendment and privacy issues raised by police using drones.

‘Yes, they could definitely be used to help track down fugitives and assist in search and rescue, I’m not denying that. They could also be used to spy on the citizens of Redding, particularly in low-income neighborhoods,’ Robbins said.

They also worried the drones would be used to spot homeless camps that would later be targeted for removal.”

Crime isn’t a big problem in Redding, but the homeless definitely exist there. It’s an astute observation that homeless camps could be spied upon with the drones. The officials admitted that the drones would be used to fight the drug war.

In other news, firefighting drones recently helped put out fires in Southern California. That is certainly positive.

Police “hoverbikes” are now a thing in Dubai: this video is unreal.

Scotland police may be using surveillance drones soon.

Image: BBC

We’re really on the precipice of science fiction-type technology becoming real and prevalent. The current of this technological wave will knock us off our feet if we don’t pay attention.

Featured image: Secrets within the Fog, the Tomatoes