By Kris Gutirrez
The Montgomery County Sheriffs Office is weeks away from launching an unmanned aerial asset to help deputies fight crime. The ShadowHawk helicopter is 6-feet long weighs 50 pounds and fits in the back of an SUV. We can put it over a fire put it over ahazmat spill
put it over a house with a suspect barricaded inside and literally give the incident commander the ability to look at the entire scene with a birds eye view " Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel said.
Sheriffs deputies will fly the ShadowHawk with nothing more than a laptop computer and a remote control similar to that used for
video games.
Its equipped with an infrared camera that can clearly read a license plate from an elevation of twelve hundred feet. The helicopter cost upwards of $300000 and was purchased with a grant from the federal government.
Vanguard Defense Industries built the helicopter. The company has also supplied aerial assets to US forces over seas.
Critics argue the drone-like vehicleisnt safe because its unmanned.
I gotta tell you it sort of looks like boys and their toys " said Terri Burke Executive Director of the ACLU of Texas. Were giving up our privacy were letting the government have way too much power."
The ACLU is concerned that technology used by law enforcement officials in general is getting ahead of peoples privacy. No one has complained to the ACLU about the
Montgomery County helicopter but some fear it could be used to spy on people.
The Constitution spells out very clearly that we have a right to privacy " Burke said.
This sheriffs office has better things to do with its time then spy on people " McDaniel argued.
Thats not our mission. The only way that its going to be an invasion of their privacy is if they are committing some type of a criminal act where we might utilize this to catch them."
