Maybe the "black helicopter conspiracy nuts" were just ahead of their time. When local U.S. law enforcement agencies start time sharing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with the Department of Homeland Security, perhaps it's time to pay attention.
When science fiction becomes law enforcement fact, things are getting more than a little weird. We've become immune to news stories from the AfPak region where missiles launched from highly sophisticated UAVs, controlled half a world away, slam into a building where alleged bad guys are hiding out. Of course, along with the alleged bad guys, there is almost always collateral damage [read: civilian casualties].
It was only a matter of time before this technology became available to American law enforcement authorities. In 2005, DHS requested funding from Congress to purchase and deploy UAVs, ostensibly for border control purposes. When I say, "border patrol purposes", what does that bring to mind? Hoards of illegal Mexicans storming the U.S. southern borders for drug running or tomato picking purposes?
You would only be half right.
A tale of six cows and a Predator drone in North Dakota follows after the flip...
The United States has a northern border, as well. Much of the American border with Canada is wide open space. In fact, if memory serves, in much of the midwest U.S. border with Canada, until recent years about all that was necessary to get from one country to the next was to hop a small ranch style fence in the middle of nowhere. Predator drones have put a cramp in that easy border crossing style. UAVs now routinely patrol a vast stretch of unguarded border, from Minnesota to the State of Washington.
These UAVs are now apparently routinely called out by local law enforcement in border-neighboring states to assist in local law enforcement activities:
Armed with a search warrant, Nelson County Sheriff Kelly Janke went looking for six missing cows on the Brossart family farm in the early evening of June 23. Three men brandishing rifles chased him off, he said.
Janke knew the gunmen could be anywhere on the 3,000-acre spread in eastern North Dakota. Fearful of an armed standoff, he called in reinforcements from the state Highway Patrol, a regional SWAT team, a bomb squad, ambulances and deputy sheriffs from three other counties.
He also called in a Predator B drone.
What?
How does a local sheriff go about doing that if his agency doesn't own one? After all, Predator drones don't come cheap ($4.5M to $10M each). What's the protocol for ringing up DHS, and requesting UAV surveillance? And can you complain to your local constabulary and get the photographic goods on your next door neighbor walking his dog and letting the pooch poop on your newly seeded lawn? (Hint: you might not even have to do that. More on that shortly...)
There's a long back story to the L.A. Times article referenced above, and I highly recommend a full reading of the article. If you want to dig even deeper, the local news outlet in Fargo, ND has a great deal of accumulated background on the cow thieving perps. Lots of lawyers, guns, and money involved. Maybe even a local militia or three. I'm not going to pass judgement one way or another on the crimes / potential crimes and general weirdness involved at all levels.
In the second decade of the 21st century, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that we live in a surveillance society. After all, you can buy your very own mini-predator drone on Amazon.com (for the low, low price of $54.99) to keep track of those pesky, dog pooping neighbors. In fact, many would argue that the technology-enabled tools available to law enforcement authorities are a good thing, from tracking down online pedophiles to catching cow thieves in North Dakota. Hey, if you're not doing anything wrong, you've got nothing to worry about. Right? Right??
The more that technology progresses, the more that Gattica appears plausible, no movie script required.
The basic question I want to pose is: Where should the line be drawn? You can superimpose your own scenarios on this story, whether we're talking about drone surveillance of cow thieves, unwarranted reading of your own email by a national security agency, tapping into your phone conversations, or even someone data mining your medication prescription refills.
The fourth amendment is soooooo pre-9/11.
And I haven't even started discussing the robot prison guards that will keep an eye on you after your cow thieving ass has been nailed by a Predator drone...