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AnonTechie writes:

Patrolling the skies these days is hard. There's so many options to choose from: traditional helicopters, new wide-angle surveillance planes, and even the more cutting-edge drones.

Each of these options has its drawbacks. Beyond the initial purchase price, well-tested helicopters typically cost at least hundreds of dollars per hour to send up. One-off surveillance planes are also not cheap, coming in at around $ 1,000 per hour. Drones, while very cheap, are problematic. Law enforcement needs a blanket Certificates of Authorization (COA) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and possibly a specific Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) each time a drone is used above 400 feet.

Enter a small Florida company now attempting to make snooping from the air both cheap and administratively easy. The Drone Aviation Holding Corporation (DAHC) recently announced that it had sold its second-ever "Blimp in a Box" ( http://www.droneaviationcorp.com/bib.html ) for local law enforcement purposes.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/forget-drones-how-about-tethered-blimps-to-spy-on-cities-below/