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Customs and Border Protection Predator Drone Observes Minneapolis Protests

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday May 31 2020, @02:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the eye-in-the-sky dept.

takyon writes:

Border Patrol flies anti-terrorism drone over Minneapolis protestors

Thousands of people took to the streets of Minneapolis on Friday to protest the death of George Floyd, a local black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest. All the while, a Customs and Border Patrol drone kept a careful eye on the unfolding unrest.

The drone, using the tracking signal CBP104, took off from Grand Forks Airforce Base at 9:08 am Central Daylight Time and shortly afterward headed directly to Minneapolis, this feed from live flight tracking service FlightAware showed. The drone then circled the city six times from about 10:45 until noon. The aircraft maintained an altitude of about 20,000 feet.

Grand Forks AFB is the home of the Air Force's 319th Reconnaissance Wing. It is also a site Customs and Border Patrol personnel use for takeoff and landing of the Predator B unmanned aircraft system. CBP uses the drone in anti-terrorism operations by helping to identify and intercept potential terrorists and illegal cross-border activity.

Also at The Drive and Business Insider.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @01:08PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @01:08PM (#1001336)

    When you are 20,000 ft up, what is a "side-looking" camera and how does it differ from a regular camera? Do they have upward-looking cameras on the drones too to get a good sneak up the skirts?

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday May 31 2020, @05:37PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 31 2020, @05:37PM (#1001435) Journal
    It's a camera angled to the side rather than straight down. You can catch different details that way. I suppose, for example, that it'd somewhat more likely to catch an image of someone's clothes or face when they're wearing a large hat.