is Searching for Stolen Cars even Practical

[Phantomrain.org]

I had posted this picture as it was titled Ready for Orders and got some interesting responses.

Ready for Orders





Over the last 5 years I have been asked to search for Dogs, Cats, Deer , Coyote and People but never cars , not until now .


" Most cars stolen in the area were recovered within a few days. The thieves would generally target the easiest to steal cars, drive them until they ran low on gasoline, and then abandon them. It was common to find abandoned stolen cars near the scene of our stolen car reports, as the thieves simply stole a similar car when they abandoned the one they had. Sure, a few were stolen by organized rings looking to move the car out of the country or to send to a “chop shop”, but the majority were simply driven for a few days and abandoned.

I replied back to her , with Flying over cars, people and VLOS make this an impossible task but if all that was not an issue , is it even a possiblity ? Still seems like a lost cause to me.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water.

 

[mavic3usa]

With a camera like the one on the Mavic 3 Pro and as soon as AI reached this point, it will be 100% possible. Will the government rules and regulations allow it, probably not for us. But you can be sure law enforcement will want to implement this just as soon as it's ready.

You can hover a drone for 45 minutes at a time over a train bridge that crosses over the freeway and read license plates all day on moving cars. In smaller locations, you can plan out safe routes for drones to roam the city and traverse traffic without impacting the people below. But for now this is mostly stationary, like this guy (not me):

 

[Cafguy]

In L.A. if you don't find your car in a few hours its parts are probably already up for grab.

 

[Starz]

Some years ago, I had some equipment(tractors)stolen and spent the time to follow the tracks and recovered them. One in particular was parked in a desert under a tree that was obviously going to be picked up at a later time by the perp that had a small amount of gray matter. I called the local L.E. folks and explained the situation and asked if they wanted to participate in catching a criminal. The response was “ go pick up your tractor”. My view on stolen expensive possessions after that was to let the insurance carrier do their job and cut me a check thereby saving my time to do more important tasks.

 

[123taff]

In the UK we have a linked network of fixed ANPR cameras (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) and all Road Policing (Traffic) Police vehicles are equipped with mobile versions of these units, and these link to the PNC. (Police National Computer)



We are lucky in the UK in as much as being smaller than the largest state in the USA, and with just one National legislative system, it requires only one common database so that a vehicle index (registration) number is instantly connected to any “intelligence” held on that vehicle.

There are connections to the Motor Insurers database and to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing authority so that if a vehicle is uninsured, untaxed, cloned, has no MOT (Ministry of Transport vehicle test certificate) or the driver is unlicensed or disqualified, then this information is instantly piggybacked to the PNC which can alert Police to any anomalies including any reports made to them of stolen vehicles.



No matter where in the UK you drive, you are never far from a linked ANPR camera and will trigger it so that a warning flag set on the vehicle will alert the local Police control centre, which is then put out to patrolling Police vehicles.



This rather negates any potential drone usage for detecting stolen vehicles in the UK, although Police are increasingly using drones for other search purposes.

 

[Dogpilot]

From years of looking down on the world, I would say that it would be virtually impossible. Or it would require a great gift of luck. So you looking for a white Ford F150, silver Camry, any crossover. They all look the same from the air. Unless you put big numbers on top of your car, it would just be happenstance you could find it from the air with a drone. Then, most high density urban areas are flight restricted in one way or another.

 

[mavic3usa]

From years of looking down on the world, I would say that it would be virtually impossible. Or it would require a great gift of luck. So you looking for a white Ford F150, silver Camry, any crossover. They all look the same from the air. Unless you put big numbers on top of your car, it would just be happenstance you could find it from the air with a drone. Then, most high density urban areas are flight restricted in one way or another.

I honestly believe a new lower level of airspace will be carved out for special access which would include drones and similar and it's 50 feet AGL. Of course this can only happen when the government decides to free up the industry and allow it to grow and drones will finally be made that will avoid crashing into pretty much anything. They will also be able to follow precise maps. Using AI, you'll not only be able to recognize cars and license plates but also facial recognition so there is that incentive. The downside is we'll probably have to establish a new form of private property rights.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I honestly believe a new lower level of airspace will be carved out for special access which would include drones and similar and it's 50 feet AGL. Of course this can only happen when the government decides to free up the industry and allow it to grow and drones will finally be made that will avoid crashing into pretty much anything. They will also be able to follow precise maps. Using AI, you'll not only be able to recognize cars and license plates but also facial recognition so there is that incentive. The downside is we'll probably have to establish a new form of private property rights.

50 feet AGL would pretty much guarantee crashes into aerial wires and power lines, thin branches at the tops of tall trees, stadium lights, and rooftop antenna systems that are all essentially undetectable by obstacle avoidance systems and higher than 50 feet AGL.

 

[landscapetog]

With a camera like the one on the Mavic 3 Pro and as soon as AI reached this point, it will be 100% possible. Will the government rules and regulations allow it, probably not for us. But you can be sure law enforcement will want to implement this just as soon as it's ready.

You can hover a drone for 45 minutes at a time over a train bridge that crosses over the freeway and read license plates all day on moving cars. In smaller locations, you can plan out safe routes for drones to roam the city and traverse traffic without impacting the people below. But for now this is mostly stationary, like this guy (not me):

There are lots of automated license plate readers everywhere. Including all the tow truck fleets as well as many vehicles used for repo scanning. I have first-hand knowledge of these systems.

I don't see a value add for using drones for this versus ground-based auto LPR.

I don't know how well integrated law enforcement is with the existing automated license plate readers (which are primarily set up for repo management) but I strongly suspect the integrations are already in place and used to recover stolen vehicles as well as a myriad of other LE purposes.

 

[TonyPHX]

Well, I found a stolen boat once. Of course, it was in the desert, so it was kind of easy to do. : )

 

[mavic3usa]

There are lots of automated license plate readers everywhere. Including all the tow truck fleets as well as many vehicles used for repo scanning. I have first-hand knowledge of these systems.

I don't see a value add for using drones for this versus ground-based auto LPR.

I don't know how well integrated law enforcement is with the existing automated license plate readers (which are primarily set up for repo management) but I strongly suspect the integrations are already in place and used to recover stolen vehicles as well as a myriad of other LE purposes.

That's what I am thinking as well, multi-tasking. Drones will read license plates as well as a ton of other functions, all at the same time using the camera. Drones will access to places where current LPR systems currently may have difficulty accessing such as enclosed, secured parking lots, multi-level parking garages, private property, and/or maybe even reading plates at night.