Posted on 04/11/2012 4:46:27 AM PDT by jmcenanly
Bizarre case is forcing court to decide if police may take advantage of technology in making arrests
JewishWorldReview.com | (USNWR) The tiny town of Lakota, N.D., is quickly becoming a key testing ground for the legality of the use of unmanned drones by law enforcement after one of its residents became the first American citizen to be arrested with the help of a Predator surveillance drone. The bizarre case started when six cows wandered onto Rodney Brossart's 3,000 acre farm. Brossart, an alleged anti-government "sovereignist," believed he should have been able to keep the cows, so he and two family members chased police off his land with high powered rifles.
After a 16-hour standoff, the Grand Forks police department SWAT team, armed with a search warrant, used an agreement they've had with Homeland Security for about three years, and called in an unmanned aerial vehicle to pinpoint Brossart's location on the ranch. The SWAT team stormed in and arrested Brossart on charges of terrorizing a sheriff, theft, criminal mischief, and other charges, according to documents
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
They ARE watching for illegals and drug smugglers.
CBP Air and Marine and Border Patrol Agents working the Predators are seeing a huge rise in detections and apprehensions. . .and they are seeing the numbers being cooked by Wash DC. . .you know, to keep the numbers low is to prove the border is secure.
CBP Air and Marine has less than two dozen Predators to cover over 11,000 miles of border. Hardly enough to just wander about.
Your nasty comment about assisting illegals and drug smugglers is a direct insult to the Agents in the field, the Agents that are out there fighting to keep the border secure.
Agent Brian Terry was killed because he was doing his job and Nappy-Pants and Holder were traitors because they caused it. My son, a Border Patrol Agent, was injured on the job taking down several drug smugglers. Consequently, I suggest you focus your comments on border security on the villains-—Nappy-Pants, Holder and The Messiah.
Do not insult the men that are on the line. They are actually doing something about illegals. . .and at great personal risk.
seems this person was already surrounded and already about to be arrested. This article does not convey any information. This would be akin to just asking a helicopter where the subject was.
ND is where the Predator training center is located.
DHS, CBP Air and Marine operate the Predator’s, not the Border Patrol.
what do you mean, "I don't think that the case will take off."?
I believe it was a joke. Drone/taking off. Get it?
Why would someone NOT be able to keep cows on a 3000 acre tract?
Sure you can. But in this case, someone ELSE'S cows wondered onto the property, and these hillbillies decided that they were NOW the rightful owners.
Why would someone shoot at police????
Because they are stupid.
*knock knock knock*
We understand that you have some cows that belong your neighbor
(while pointing a rifle at the cops)You best be gitt'n off our land if you know what good fer ya.
Thanks. So whose drone was employed in this case? CBP?
You mention that approx. two dozen of these are currently in operation. As a taxpayer and citizen, it would interest me to know exactly how many of these machines are employed in the CONUS, exactly what agencies they belong to, and exactly where they are deployed.
This is a perfect example of “Mission Creep!” what was first used as an example of “anti-terror” is now being used for local police to apprehend private Americans!
Where do Americans draw the line or rein in government overreach or abuse? Some Americans like the use of government power to accomplish somethings in our society, but not in others, but, where do we draw that line to stop government overreach?
It is a very slippery slope
Does the SCOTUS ruling apply to aerial observation, or just from public roads?
The essence of that ruling is that IR allows LEOs to see what is not normally visable to the human eye. It can literally “see through walls.”
SCOTUS would never say IR could not be used to capture a fleeing criminal, if the criminal act was already known through other means.
In this case, all was known long before drones, IR or visual, were used to apprehend the “wantee.”
One fun government argument here could be, since Def does not beleive in Federal Government, how can he object to actions of something he says does not affect him, or ask for relief from an entity of that government.
It wouldn’t go anywhere, but the motions in opposition would be fun to read! Sort of like watching a athiest pray on his death bed.
Come on, Joe, a police state is a safe state!
And if you have nothing to hide, why would you mind drones overhead filming you?
They would have been called, not the military Predators. CBP Predators are sometimes called for help when local aviation assets are unable to help and the threat is significant.
Here are a couple of DHS websites on their Predators:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/air_marine/uas_program/
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/air_marine/air/aviation_asset/predator_b.xml
Predator ops in the US -- other than testing and development flights in restrcitected airspace, military training flights (in MOA range airspace), and CBP operations along the border, there are no other agencies that have approval to operate within the US
The approval to operate a Predator outside FAA approved airspace is a real chore, almost impossible, as the FAA is slowly integrating UAVs and they don't, EVER want to (and who can blame them) have a mid-air with an unmanned aircraft.
Where they are deployed? Training for CBP Air and Marine and the USAF is in Grand Forks, ND, and there are Predators at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tuscon, and I think there are a couple of other locations but can't say for sure. Might be one someplace down south along the east coast or in Florida, but don't know.
Sorry, did not intend to insult. Dressing down accepted.
No worries, sir.
He’s going to jail.... Drones are no less illegal had a police helicopter searched for an found the person they were after.... Just another toy for the FLEA’s to use .....,
UAV’s are OK...
UCAV’s for policing citizens is bad. No armaments.
Just what I have seen....stay safe !
The USSC case was about a police department that was just flying over whole neighborhoods with IR cameras looking for “hot” houses which would be grow homes.
they were looking inside homes with tech and were doing so without any probable cause and without any warrant. The USSC slapped them hard over that.
Better tech does not make peeping legal.
Had they been flying generally and seen marijuana plants growing visually outside a building, they would have been fine, but as you said the previous case was a no no.
In this case, they are fine however. Courts are loathe to enter into how an arrest was made. People kidnapped overseas by private citizens and returned to the US against their will have been held to have no immunity from arrest.
Armed Predator drone flying around Chicago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzrS0BVJynM
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