We’ve heard of unmanned drones used for military operations, border patrols and battling wildfires. Now the Houston Police Department is apparently planning to employ the expensive aircraft to take on another menace: speeding drivers.
Such drones are notorious for malfunctioning, and they cost as much as $1 million apiece. That’s a lot of traffic tickets. And then there are those pesky invasion-of-privacy issues to consider since the aircraft are equipped with powerful video cameras that can peer into homes and moving vehicles.
HPD has been understandably tight-lipped on the project. Kudos to the crack investigative team at KPRC for capturing on video a secret launch held this weekend in Waller County, recently featured on Drudge Report. –Todd Spivak
This article appears in Nov 22-28, 2007.
