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[Dr Feelgood]

This isn't the first time the US used drones to capture domestic criminals. Drones were used to capture a family of rednecks for stealing cattle.

[GlyphGryph]

I sincerely hope absolutely no one would give the LAPD control of a drone armed with Hellfire missles. I cannot conceive of how stupid that would be.

This is honestly what I expect to be the case. I could see the LAPD using drone weaponry. I can't see many people being stupid enough to sell them it, though.

However, remember that a lot of the stuff being sold has been for national preparedness, so the police can act as an army to fight off terrorist invasion or some BS like that...

But yeah, I expect missiles to be incredibly unlikely one way or another.

[Grakelin]

Doesn't seem like a big deal. Canada has been using its Hercules military transport craft to take aerial photographs of marijuana farms in Nova Scotia for a very long time.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

That's not exactly the same. Canada is fucking gigantic and has a low population density over the majority of its land. Aerial surveillance is pretty much the only way to get a good image of the out-of-the-way places where people hide their marijuana farms.

This is Los Angeles.

[GlyphGryph]

Actually, this is supposedly the wilderness outside Los Angelas, where he is supposed to be hiding out.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The wilderness outside Los Angelas is still not equivalent to Nova Scotian backcountry.

[Zrk2]

Nova Scotia is pretty small compared to the total size of Canada.

[sneakey pete]

The wilderness outside Los Angelas is still not equivalent to Nova Scotian backcountry.

hey. you shouldn't be allowed to use radios either, that should be reserved for people in the australian outback only, since its much larger!

[Zrk2]

Nova Scotia is pretty small compared to the total size of Canada.

hey. you shouldn't be allowed to use radios either, that should be reserved for people in the australian outback only, since its much larger!

Just thought I'd point out that the previously used reasoning was somewhat flawed.

[sneakey pete]

Yeah, sorry, I actually meant to quote the person above you, post edited.

My point is, if something makes something easier, why not use it.

[MonkeyHead]

I have an unusual discomfort about the idea that its quite possible people would encourage the use of deadly force to kill the suspect should he make the slightest effort to resist arrest, yet those very same people are against the use of an unmanned drone to find the same suspect in a rural setting.

Though its possible this says more about the perception of these drones due to thier use in "those" incidents in Pakistan than the attitudes of the people in question.

[Scoops Novel]

I sincerely hope absolutely no one would give the LAPD control of a drone armed with Hellfire missles. I cannot conceive of how stupid that would be.

They actually called them Hellfire missiles?  .

[MonkeyHead]

Oh yes, well known anti-tank weapon used plenty since the first Gulf war. Supersonic with HE warhead - tends to penetrate armour and detonate inside the target vehicle.

[Starver]

We're talking about an organization that opened uncontrolled fire on civilians in a residential neighborhood because they got a bit spooked. I don't think "avoiding collateral damage" is high on their list of concerns.

Actually, I'd say that this would make them now have such an avoidance as high on their list.

And one of the advertised benefits of drones is that instead of a fighter/fighter-bomber jock being up there in the air and having to make split-second decisions of whether or not to target something suspicious (especially if that something maybe has some AA capability), that the remote operator has no such adrenaline-led decision-making and can be calm and collected about anything he or she does.

(OTOH, apparently one operator is normally in charge of half a dozen of the things at a time...  I suppose that if there's an apparently coordinated resurgence of... well... insurgents... on two or more of his screens then all that leisurely and rational assessment might go out of the window.  However, we've got one man in the woods in this instance, so if there's half a dozen or more searching craft then even with some lone hikers hoving into view every now and again, that need checking up on and classifying as such, it's not going to be a big strain on a trained tele-operator with experience of the theatre of war... Even if (and I seriously doubt it, or even if it'll be made a possible option) this leads onto a weapons-free situation.)

Maybe I just have more faith in your government(/authorities) than some of you have.  I rather think that they'd probably quite like to be able to capture the guy alive, if only to show that their due process is capable of dealing with all the bad press he's been causing.  (There's plenty of ways 'they', should there be a 'them', could conspire to discredit anything that he was saying...  Making him a martyr to his own cause isn't going to help them in any way whatsoever.)  Of course, if the guy himself is determined to top himself (and, indeed, I could see him having done so already, or be planning to do so, quietly and secretly having ensured there's already plenty of doubt about his location so that his legend lives on) or continue on a self-destructive journey towards what may be an inevitable suicide-by-cop ending, then it's trouble all round.

[Onlyhestands]

It's one thing if they just use the drones as surveillance while looking for the guy. However, if they do take him out with a drone strike (which he presumably would never even see coming) that's a violation of the 5th amendment. Nobody is going to deny that this guy is guilty, but he still has the right to surrender and a have a fair trial.
It's also disgusting that the LAPD put a price on his head. How many big black guys are there in LA? What happens when some innocent guy gets shot to hell? Are they trying to set off riots? The whole thing by the LAPD really makes it obvious that they're trying to hide something. Again, not denying that Dorner is a murderer and should be taken down by the law, with force if necessary, but the LAPD is not helping their already tarnished image, especially after taking pot shots at several different vehicles.