Baltimore ends aerial surveillance program
Baltimore city police have said that aerial surveillance planes that have been flying over the skies of Baltimore have stopped operating effective Saturday. In April, the city council approved a privately-funded six-month aerial surveillance pilot program aimed at helping solve crimes. Opponents, including the ACLU of Maryland, argued this was a violation of First and Fourth Amendment rights.
Good riddance. They shouldn't just be surveiling entire cities from the air.
Just watching doesn't help even if you do see it. Largely it's an excuse to pay people to sit on their butt in front of monitors. Outside it could look like a purge movie, these guys watch eating donuts. London is good example of cameras everywhere, and police just watching.
Not a violation of rights if you are in public view. You have no expectation of privacy in public or out in your yard ! We are doing everything possible to reverse the crime rate dropping, in order to satisfy a lie
Baltimore is infested with rats.
Baltimore is a rat-hole.
While I'm against wholesale surveillance (listening to your calls, tracking your internet use, etc), surveilling communities streets seems fair. If a guy is standing on a corner and cares are stopping, exchanging something, then driving off... Pretty quickly a suspicion of selling drugs is reasonable. To create a case, officers will attempt to make a buy or use direct surveillance for a conviction.