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A comment on US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance drone over Minneapolis. Parent comment

Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by bdesbrisay on Friday May 29, 2020 @03:03PM (#23354159)
The drone is also controlled remotely and thus has more of a disconnect between the “pilot” and the subject. The police helicopter has a human element to/in it so the pilot would feel more responsibility for the destruction they caused if it were right in front of their eyes.
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Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by outworlder on Friday May 29, 2020 @04:54PM (#23355422)
This is unsupported by evidence. Drone operators have a high incidence of PTSD.

> Studies have found similar levels of depression and PTSD among drone pilots working behind a bank of computers as among military personnel deployed to the battlefield.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/18/life-as-a-dron...

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Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by koheripbal on Friday May 29, 2020 @05:33PM (#23355801)
This is for ATTACK drones, where they are actually killing people or coordinating fire.

We are talking here about SURVEILLANCE drones.

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Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by catalogia on Friday May 29, 2020 @07:12PM (#23356685)
> The police helicopter has a human element to/in it so the pilot would feel more responsibility for the destruction they caused if it were right in front of their eyes.

This comment sounds like it's about attack drones. I concede that it's not necessarily about attack drones; a surveillance drone operator might facilitate and witness a lethal attack, and in that sense "cause" the destruction.

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Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by koheripbal on Saturday May 30, 2020 @12:35PM (#23362354)
Sure - but that wouldn't apply to police drones either since no one is getting shot by droned directed fire in the US.
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Re:US customs and border protection is flying a surveillance... by jandrese on Friday May 29, 2020 @04:04PM (#23354845)
This seems speculative to me. Helicopter pilots are already hundreds or thousands of feet away from the action, they're not looking people directly in the eyes.
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