*A colleague pointed out that maybe I should have made the headline a little clearer. These resources were reportedly deployed to pursue the alleged armed thieves of six cows.
You’re gonna love this, Tumblr fans. Some cows went missing in North Dakota. Six in all. Here is what local authorities decided was necessary to search for said bovine:
- A SWAT team
- A bomb squad
- The highway patrol
- Deputies from three surrounding counties
- A Predator drone
Yes, a Predator drone. The LA Times is calling it “the first known arrests of U.S. citizens with help from a Predator.” But by no means is it the first time a drone, generally, has been used by local police in U.S. airspace, and it wasn’t the first time a Predator had been used in North Dakota. From the Times:
Local police say they have used unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base to fly at least two-dozen surveillance flights since June. … ‘We don’t use [drones] on every call out,” said Bill Macki, head of the police SWAT team in Grand Forks. ‘If we have something in town like an apartment complex, we don’t call them.’
Image: Joost J. Bakker
