Summary: A Dakota Access Pipeline protestor using drones to monitor the police had his drone shot down after he became a hazard to police helicopters flying in the area.

A Dakota Access Pipeline protestor is mad at police after they were forced to shoot down his drone when it nearly crashed into police helicopters twice. The FBI is investigating the incident over the North Dakota protest site.

The affidavit sworn by FBI Agent Brian VanOosbree states that the protestor is being investigated for violating a federal statute covering the damage or destruction of an aircraft. The helicopters in question were being used by law enforcement to monitor protestors. The police claim that the drone flew so close to the helicopters on more than one occasion that the pilots had to take “evasive maneuvers that would keep the two aircraft from colliding.” Once they came to the conclusion that the drone “had become a danger,” officers repeatedly attempted to shoot down the DJI Phantom 3 quadcopter.

A search warrant was issued for the contents of a Facebook profile belonging to Dean Dedman, 31. Dedman is a member of the Standing Rock Hunkpapa tribe located in South Dakota. Videos were posted to Dedman’s Facebook page showing the drone being shot at by police near the staging areas. Police hit the drone with one “non-lethal bean bag round.” Dedman can be seen holding the drone with a broken landing gear. Dedman claims that a second drone was shot down as it flew over the Dakota Access Pipeline drill pad.

The FBI believes that Dedman was using the drones so he and other protestors could see “where law enforcement is and how many police there are.” In a video, Dedman refers to police as the “true scum of the earth.”

Dedman was fully aware of the no-fly restrictions over the protest site and drill pad. He alleges that his use of the drone is protected by the First Amendment and urges others to fight back against the Federal Aviation Administration’s flight restrictions.

The Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access Pipeline is projected to run from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to the southern part of Illinois. The pipeline would travel beneath the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and under part of Lake Oahe, which is located near the Standing River Indian Reservation.

Members of the Standing Rock tribe argue that the pipeline will contaminate their water and ancient burial grounds. A survey done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found no significant impact to the areas with the projected route. The tribe tried to sue the Corps of Engineers but the motion was denied. Any sacred sites were identified during the planning of the pipeline and rerouted to avoid the sites. The Corps of Engineers also invited the tribe to be part of the assessment of the land but they refused, instead choosing “to boycott the entire process.” As far the courts are concerned, the tribe has failed to provide any proof to back up their claims. The land the pipeline travels on are privately owned lands and not part of the reservation.

Protestors had gathered at a camp established by a tribe elder. Hundreds turned out in support, turning the protest into a big party. With so many people involved to support the tribe, the camp became a hazard and police were forced to make them vacate the camp.

Do you think the pipeline is a bad or good thing? Explain your thoughts in the comments below.

To learn more about drones, read these articles:

• Utah Mother and Boyfriend Charged with Voyeurism Using a Drone
• Drone Crashes onto White House Property
• Drones Allowed to Be Flown Commercially Starting Today

Photo: davesmotors.com

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Summary: A Utah mother of six and her boyfriend were caught using a drone to peep into bathroom and bedroom windows of several homes.

A Utah mother and her boyfriend have been charged with voyeurism charges after his drone was discovered peeping into the bathrooms and bedrooms of several unsuspecting victims. Orem police started an investigation into the drone to determine who the owner was when one victim noticed the drone hovering outside his bathroom window back in December. The victim grabbed the DJI Phantom 4 drone when it landed in a nearby church parking lot and turned it over to police.

The police recovered “multiple videos recording individuals inside their residences through windows. Some of the recordings were multiple stories high in apartment complexes.” The SD card in the drone also had footage from outside residences that were empty of any individuals inside. From what the Orem police were able to recover off the drone’s footage, it included images of a man flying the drone and a possible lead on the operator’s pickup truck.

The police were able to identify the vehicle and its registered owner, Aaron Foote. The 39-year-old Foote was convicted in 2008 for voyeurism in a Utah tanning salon. He has also been arrested for burglary, theft, and domestic violence – not exactly the kind of guy Terisha Lee Norviel should want around her six kids.

Foote and Norviel, 34, were charged with misdemeanor voyeurism by electronic equipment. They will face a preliminary hearing in the next few weeks.

Norviel is a licensed real estate agent. She is in the midst of a divorce with the father of her children, according to bankruptcy court records in 2016.

On a side note – the quadcopter retails for $1200. Do you think that is a waste of money? Tell us in the comments below.

To learn more about drones, read these articles:

• Drones Allowed to Be Flown Commercially Starting Today
• Drone Crashes onto White House Property
• Google Announces Drone Delivery Service: Project Wing to Be Available in “Less than a Decade”

Cover Photo: flickr.com

Couple Photo: farrahgray.com

The post Utah Mother and Boyfriend Charged with Voyeurism Using a Drone first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

On Wednesday night, around 11 p.m., a strange aircraft was seen in the suburbs of Maryland just outside of D.C. The aircraft was not a UFO so do not worry. It actually was a drone. The aircraft caused major traffic delays and widespread speculation about cover-ups from the government. Photos of the aircraft made it onto Twitter very quickly and show the object being driven on the Capital Beltway close to College Park on the back of a truck. Officials explained the following about the drone:

“Maryland State Police at the McHenry Barrack have confirmed the aircraft seen on the Beltway was a military airplane being moved from West Virginia to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Southern Maryland.

The plane is 82 feet long, 32 feet wide and 14 feet high. The X-46B is the same type of military vehicle that crashed earlier this week near Salisbury, Md.”

The lead test engineer for the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Matt Funk, said that ‘in the coming months the drone will be seen flying over the base and surrounding area along the Chesapeake Bay.’ The drone was identified by Funk as being from Northrop Grumman’s X-47B drones not an X-46B as previously reported. A drone that crashed earlier in the week was Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4A BAMS-D.

The post Drone Transported on Beltway Causes a Stir first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

While the fleet of unmanned robotic aircraft keeps growing and adding to the nation’s arsenal, the Pentagon is working out procedures to enable the Federal Aviation Administration to open U.S. Airspace for military drones.

With the gradual pacification of the war-torn areas of Iraq and Afghanistan the time for the drones to return has arrived. The armed forces continued to acquire military drones to upgrade tactical prowess and reduce human casualty throughout the “War against Terror” period. The original fleet of 50 drones as of Sept 11, 2011 has now grown to almost seven and a half thousand.

After returning home, the robotic aircraft would be stationed in military bases around the nation for use in emergencies. Unmanned drones have already been successful in penetrating critical areas and helping people like during the recent tsunami in Japan and earthquake in Haiti.

Steve Pennington, the Director of Ranges, Bases, and Airspace for the Air Force said that “The stuff from Afghanistan is going to come back,” and that the Department of Defense wanted to use the drones for needs of the nation and that the Department “doesn’t want a segregated environment. We want a fully integrated environment.” This can mean that military drones would be brought under the same rules as other military aircraft.

The FAA does not allow remotely controlled aircraft in the national airspace as according to the FAA, drones don’t have adequate “detect, sense and avoid” technology to safeguard collisions with other objects in midair.

While the smaller drones, which are mostly as large as hobby planes may be brought under a system, the question is different for the large Global Hawks, MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers which can wreak havoc in the wrong hands.

Last week, Congress approved legislation requiring the FAA to create a plan for wide-scale integration of drones in the national airspace by 2015.

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