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RG_Viza t1_je5eydw wrote

Reply to comment by YoYoMoMa in New foxtrot is now in the air by Douseigh

One use of them is avoiding high speed vehicle chases through the city and preventing the inevitable resulting deaths from high speed chases. Tracking them from a helicopter and getting perpetrators when they stop the car and get out is safer. They can be bank robbers, shooters, whatever. They don’t just chase swimmers out of pools.

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S-Kunst t1_je798uv wrote

I accept that can be the case when they are moving slowly and during the day. When it is at night and they take only a couple minutes to do a round trip, No they cannot see anything on the ground.

I also add that nearly every week day (4:30-5pm) I sit in my tiny back yard, and at least one, generally more copters fly east to west or west to east. Taking about 20 seconds each time. From what I can see from the ground, they are not News Helicopters.

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DeliMcPickles t1_je7boli wrote

They have a light you know. Also they have FLIR. Do you think they just fly around in the dark with no idea where they are?

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YoYoMoMa t1_je5fekm wrote

I get that they have uses, but it is not a zero sum game. How many high speed chases do we have here? What are the stats about how cars drive when being chased by cops vs helis? Is establishing perimeters and road blocks safer? How much do alternatives cost vs a heli?

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RG_Viza t1_je5fqge wrote

I guy I went to high school with, Matt Hershel, died as a result of a high speed chase in Baltimore. He was walking on a sidewalk. They used to happen almost daily.

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EthanSayfo t1_je6yp5n wrote

Sorry to hear that. There was a video of a pedestrian being killed just the other day by a high-speed driver plowing into the sidewalk.

It happens a lot.

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YoYoMoMa t1_je5g268 wrote

I am sorry to hear that, but anecdotal evidence is exactly what we should not be looking for here.

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