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Drone Helps Hunt Down Suspect in Car Theft and Robbery

posted by martyb on Monday July 06 2015, @01:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the up-in-the-air-about-this-one dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

A Wisconsin robbery and auto theft suspect was captured by police thanks to a borrowed drone on May 31, according to court papers filed yesterday in Middleton, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Marquis Phiffer, 21, stole a car and robbed a convenience store in Middleton, Wisconsin on May 31.

After allegedly stealing a car that had been left running outside a coffee shop and robbing the store at a BP gas station (he declared he had a gun, but the clerk never saw one), Phiffer was pursued by police. A chase that reached speeds of up to 70mph ended when Phiffer crashed into a parked car. He abandoned the car and ran into a marsh near Tiedemann's Pond, just a few blocks from Middleton's National Mustard Museum.

The Middleton Fire Department lent the police a rubber raft and a camera-equipped DJI Phantom quadrocopter drone used in search and rescue operations to locate Phiffer. He was hiding in the water, and when the police reached him "his shoes were floating away from him," along with a "large wad of cash," Wisconsin State Journal's Ed Trevelen reported. More cash and a hypodermic needle were found in his pocket.

Seems like the same thing as calling in a chopper, but a lot less expensive. Anyone know what the cost differential is?

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  • (Score: 1) by captnjohnny1618 on Monday July 06 2015, @04:18PM

    by captnjohnny1618 (5301) on Monday July 06 2015, @04:18PM (#205707)
    Right. I don't disagree with anything you've pointed out. All very valid, very important and very true concerns.

    It looks like (from the -1 "disagree" moderation I got... aren't we a little better than that?) people interpreted my post as "pro drone." Let me clarify: I am in favor of testing drones as a replacement of the helicopters in Los Angeles. I AM NOT PRO DRONE. I also should have emphasized more that I favor strict limits on numbers of police drones (like, the same number as we keep of helicopters), and certainly mandating a human operator behind the controls at all times, preferable with others operators to keep them honest.

    I still think that there is a way to do this, or at least try it out, without tumbling down the 1984 rabbit hole. It would probably save millions of tax dollars that I contribute to every year (probably to be wasted somewhere else, but hey, we can't solve all of problems at once), and shouldn't something that has that potential at least be investigated?

    Maybe there isn't, but that's what EMPs are for! ;-)

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by tathra on Monday July 06 2015, @05:28PM

    by tathra (3367) on Monday July 06 2015, @05:28PM (#205741)

    It would probably save millions of tax dollars that I contribute to every year

    if they're already spending millions to keep helos in the air all the time, letting them replace helos with dones isn't going to save any money, they're just going to spend millions on drones instead. cost should be another limiting factor, but if its not already then they aren't going to spend less just because the new tech is cheaper, cheaper just means they can have more at the same cost.