AZ Mirror Reporter Jeremy Duda Doubles-Down on Surveillance Drone Deployments by Arizona Police Departments..there's more to the story

A company called FLIR Surveilance Inc , Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND POLICING
What we know about police drones in Arizona and how they are used
LINK to the source: https://www.azmirror.com/2020/06/30 
Last Updated: July 1, 2020 9:16 am

"The Tempe Police Department recently released video from its DJI Phantom Pro 4 drone that it used to surveil protesters over the weekend, but the agency isn’t the only law enforcement in the state with the technology. 

A review of Federal Aviation Administration records shows that nine different agencies in Maricopa County, including some fire departments, have drones at their disposal. 

Only a few agencies have provided Arizona Mirror their guidelines on the use of drones, and public records requests for policy guidelines for most agencies are still outstanding. . ."

When Tempe Police was contacted by Vice News about the drone footage, the department said it did not know which type of drone was being flown. Tempe was likely flying the DJI Phantom Pro 4, which the Mirror found using the FAA’s aircraft registry search.  

Tempe Police policy dictates that its drone “will not be deployed solely because people are choosing to exercise their right to free speech or their right to gather” and that “strong consideration must be given to a sUAS (small unmanned aerial system) deployment under these circumstances as it may agitate an otherwise law-abiding assembly of people.”

 The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, which also has a drone program, was present at the protests, as well

The Mirror found FAA records for 17 drones owned by the “State of Arizona” bearing the address commonly used by DPS’s other aircraft. 

The majority of them are made by DJI, a popular brand of drone by both enthusiasts and law enforcement alike. 

DPS received the majority of their fleet in 2019 and consist mostly of the DJI Mavic 2 Pro.

A commercial for the higher end version of the Mavic 2 Pro, which DPS owns one of, includes members of the Mesa Fire Department. FAA records give no indication that Mesa Fire Department owns one of the higher end Mavic 2 Pro Enterprises. 

 

Apart from the drones in DPS’s fleet that are commonly used by law enforcement, the department also has some more interesting ones, among them the DJI Spark and the Aeryon Labs Inc Skyranger. 

The Aeryon Labs Inc Skyranger is noteworthy because it is capable of infrared technology. 

FLIR, the leading manufacturer of infrared camera technology, acquired Aeryon in 2019, but it is unknown exactly what type of camera system is onboard the Skyranger that DPS owns.  

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BLOGGER INSERTS:

 

1 FLIR Mobile Vehicle Surveillance System ...

youtube.com

 

2 Small Unmanned Aerial System Adversary Capabilities | RAND

www.rand.org › pubs › research_reports

www.rand.org › pubs › research_reports

Overall, the commercial sUAS market has been moving toward smaller, lighter, and more-difficult-to-detect systems. There have also been notable increases in ...

by B Wilson - ‎2020

 

3 VTOL UAVs | Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) for ...

www.unmannedsystemstechnology.com › aeryon-labs-inc

www.unmannedsystemstechnology.com › aeryon-labs-inc

Aeryon Labs provide high-performance small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) for Military, Public Safety & Commercial applications. Vertical Take-off and

 

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One agency did inform the Mirror that one of its does have a FLIR camera. 

“The Scottsdale Police Department drone program began in 2015 with the purchase of a DJI Inspire 1 aircraft,” Sgt. A.J. George, with the department’s Technical Operations Unit, told the Mirror. “The intended purpose at the time was for tactical overwatch on search warrants, barricades or other high risk tactical operations.”

...“Peoria PD Policy mandates any use of sUAS (small unmanned aerial system) be in strict accordance with constitutional and privacy rights, as well as state and Federal FAA regulations,” Peoria Police spokesman Ofc. Brandon Sheffert said. “Any use of sUAS first requires supervisory approval.”

“When Peoria PD utilizes sUAS there is usually several marked police vehicles on scene,” Sheffert added. “Any video or images utilized as evidence are stored in accordance with Department policy.”

 

Press Release City of Mesa Newsroom: Retirement "Happy Talk"

From Mesa Now.org/news/public/article/2547

Presiding City Magistrate Judge Matias Tafoya retiring June 30

June 29, 2020 at 4:34 pm
After 17 years on the bench as the Presiding City Magistrate, Judge Matias (Matt) Tafoya will be retiring from the City of Mesa Municipal Court on June 30.A graduate of Arizona State University’s College of Law, Tafoya came to Mesa in 2003 after 19 years as a judge with Phoenix Municipal Court. He also spent time as a Deputy County Attorney for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Assistant City Prosecutor for the Phoenix City Prosecutor's Office as well as in private practice.

"Judge Tafoya's leadership brought innovative programs like Veteran's Court and Community Court to the City of Mesa," Mayor John Giles said.

"These programs combine compassion with justice and give clients the opportunity to change their lives with the assistance of support services rather than incarceration. I appreciate his commitment to creating lasting change in our community and wish him the best on his retirement."

"I am truly thankful for a dream come true to serve as Presiding Judge for our Municipal Court," Judge Tafoya said.

"I want to commend the Mayor and City Council for supporting not only the neutrality of the court in serving the Prosecution and Defense in adversarial proceedings but in supporting the specialty courts whose focus is the humane treatment of Veterans, the mentally ill, and the social issues that plague the homeless all weighing the cost-benefit analysis in what is best for our community."

During his more than 35 years on the bench Judge Tafoya has been a member of many professional organizations and has served on several Supreme Court committees to improve the administration of justice.

He has been a member of the Arizona State Bar since 1975, the Los Abogados Hispanic Lawyers Association since 1976 and a member of the Arizona Asian American Bar Association since 2001. He is also a founding member of the Minority Judges Caucus.

The Mesa City Council will appoint a new City Magistrate at a future City Council meeting

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BLOGGER NOTES >RELATED CONTENT

File #:

20-0616

Type:

Ordinance

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council

On agenda:

6/1/2020

Title:

Repealing and replacing Title 1, Chapter 7 of the Mesa City Code pertaining to City Magistrates to formalize the term of office for the Presiding City Magistrate and clarify the term of office for City Magistrates, and amending Title 2, Chapter 3 of the Mesa City Code pertaining to the Judicial Advisory Board to formalize the appointment and reappointment process for the Presiding City Magistrate, clarify the appointment and reappointment process for City Magistrates, and clarify the Presiding City Magistrate’s authority to appoint Magistrates Pro Tem. (Citywide)

Attachments:

1. Council Memo, 2. Ordinance

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COUNCIL REPORT

To:  Mayor and City Council

From:  Sarah Staudinger, Assistant City Attorney 

Through: Jim Smith, City Attorney

Date: 

June 1, 2020

Subject: Ordinance formalizing the position and process of appointing the Presiding City Magistrate 

The City Code does not currently define or refer to the position of Presiding City Magistrate and does not formalize the procedures to appoint and reappoint the Presiding City Magistrate.  The proposed ordinance formalizes this position and the processes for appointment and reappointment and provides further clarifications to these sections of the City Code.  
These changes are made in two areas of the City Code related to City Magistrates

• (Title 1, Chapter 7) and
• The Judicial Advisory Board (Title 2, Chapter 3).   

The new Title 1, Chapter 7, “City Magistrates and the Presiding City Magistrate,” will formalize Council’s duty to appoint a Presiding City Magistrate and the term of office of the Presiding City Magistrate and will further clarify the term of office served by City Magistrates. 

The term of office for the Presiding City Magistrate will be the same as the term of office for other City Magistrates. 

The terms of office will remain two-year terms for the first two terms served, followed by four-year terms for any subsequent terms served.       

 

The amended Title 2, Chapter 3, “Judicial Advisory Board,” will formalize the process of appointing and reappointing a Presiding City Magistrate and will provide increased flexibility for Council during that process.

Council will have the opportunity to appoint and reappoint the Presiding City Magistrate either through Council’s own process or may elect to have the Judicial Advisory Board review and recommend a person for the position of Presiding City Magistrate.

The amended Code will also clarify that the Presiding City Magistrate, with approval of the City Manager, may appoint Magistrates Pro Tem on an as-needed basis.

The appointment and reappointment process for City Magistrates will be unchanged other than minor clarifications.        

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NEW APPOINTMENTS TO THE CITY'S JUDICIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Judicial Advisory Board – Seven-member board including new appointments

New Appointments: Carolyn Finley, District 2. 
Ms. Finley is a Clinical Case Manager at Mercy Health Plan and a registered nurse with nearly 15 years of experience in direct patient care and management.

She is a volunteer with the March of Dimes and was the Clinical Coordinator for the Phoenix March for Babies for several years.

She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Innovation from Arizona State University.

Her term expires June 30, 2023. 

New Appointments: Kent Cattani. 
Judge Cattani was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 2013.

Prior to his appointment, he represented the State of Arizona for more than 20 years.

He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley.

He is currently Vice-Chair of the Division One Arizona Court of Appeals and Vice-Chair of Arizona’s Forensic Advisory Committee.

His term expires June 30, 2023. 

 

 

“That’s crazy, right?” ADD the chronic, long-term effects of exposure to smoke from wildfires

Where there's smoke there's fire - and vice versa.
Add that to the Phoenix Metro Area and Maricopa County's decades-old drought and consistent violation of federal Clean Air Standards, more than 100 days of temperatures in excess of 100 degrees, and some of the fastest unsustainable growth in the entire nation.
Yes Arizona - Expect More! 
A toxic contaminated man-made triple-whammy: threat, hazard and risk to public health and well-being
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Wildfire smoke now makes up almost half of people’s exposure to PM2.5 in Western states, up from less than 20% a decade ago . . .
The federal government currently exempts some states from including smoke from wildfires in their tallies of PM2.5 pollution. Whether that should change constitutes a “key policy question” lawmakers have yet to face.
As wildfires become more frequent due to climate change, the researchers found, the increasing amounts of smoke may harm Americans nearly as much as rising temperatures. “That’s crazy, right?” Burke says.
“We hadn’t even though of that as a key part of the climate impact in this country.”
_______________________________________
READ MORE:

Energy & Science

Wildfires Are Taking an Unexpectedly Huge Toll on America’s Lungs

A new approach to tracking harmful smoke shows it may cause as much damage as rising temperatures.

By Eric Roston    

‎June‎ ‎30‎, ‎2020‎ ‎8‎:‎00‎ ‎AM

 

Q3 2020: GDP contraction for 2020 in the 8% to 12% range

Hold that headline and take a pause > Inhale

and then exhale - there is more,

". . . Moreover, the recovery of lost output would not be completed in 2021. And the uncertainty surrounding these predictions would notably increase, with the balance of risk tilted to the downside.
SOURCE: Bloomberg Economics/Opinion
Sunny Third-Quarter Economic Outlook Turns Cloudier

Confidence is waning in economic improvement as the Covid-19 situation worsens in several states.

By Mohamed A. El-Erian    

‎June‎ ‎30‎, ‎2020‎ ‎2‎:‎24‎ ‎PM

Such a diminished outlook would worsen the already-concerning inequality trifecta of income, wealth and opportunity at a time of greater recognition and heightened sensitivity to long-standing social injustices.

• It would also undermine the type of synchronized global recovery in which external demand reinforces domestic economic improvements.
• It would increase the likelihood of more protectionism and faster deglobalization.
• And it would risk pulling down longer-term economic growth and prosperity.

The answer is not to roll back health measures aimed at regaining control of what is a worrisome acceleration of infections. Rather, it is to ensure changes in behavior and policy that allow for healthier and sustainable economic reopenings during this tricky period of living with Covid-19. . . "
THERE IS MORE
_________________________________________________________________________________
BLOOMBERG EDITOR'S NOTE: This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story:
Mohamed A. El-Erian at melerian@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:

Daniel Niemi at

dniemi1@bloomberg.net 

Bob Dylan > For All The Decades: How Many Years Are We Hearing?

Let's start somewhere - right here in Mesa. The year 1988

On this blog

30 April 2017

Cool To Listen To Then + Now: Bob Dylan In Mesa 1988

Watching Bob Dylan in Mesa, Arizona (1988)


 

— who knew it was the start of something never-ending?

 

 

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28 September 2018 

The Traveling Wilburys > End Of The Line

IT'S ALL RIGHT DOIN' THE BEST YOU CAN AS LONG YOU LEND A HAND ...
Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan

Published on May 20, 2016

Views: 14,068,088

Music video by The Traveling Wilburys performing End Of The Line. (C) 2007 T. Wilbury Limited. Exclusively Licensed to Concord Music Group, Inc.http://vevo.ly/xEMlQF     End Of The Line

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Tribute2 > Bob Dylan

Published on Feb 27, 2013

Peter, Paul & Mary, and John Sebastian

The Brave New World Keeps Spinning Around: North America

USMCA! USMCA! USMCA! USMACA! USMCA! USMACA! -----the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
"After 13 months of diplomatic negotiations, plus further political wrangling within Washington, a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA takes effect on Wednesday with modest changes in some areas, significant additions in others. . ." and that new name"
Looks like E-Commerce and Digital Trade have changed the entire world everywhere. It's not just Politics like this point-of-view from Sarah Babbage writing in Bloomberg Politics
So has the 2020 COVID-19 PANDEMIC in ways we don't know about in these uncertain times - impacts yet to see.
_________________________________________________________________________

HALF-HEMISPHERE THINKING
IN A GLOBAL NETWORK
Here's some quick information from Bloomberg:

Why did Nafta have to be renegotiated?

Calling it the “worst deal in U.S. history,” Trump blamed Nafta for increasing the U.S. trade deficit and sending manufacturing jobs to Mexico.

Though economists argue over Nafta’s impact on the U.S., most objective analyses have found it didn’t cause major aggregate American job losses but also didn’t significantly boost gross domestic product there.

How will things improve for the U.S.?

The U.S. International Trade Commission found it will boost U.S. trade with Mexico and Canada by about 5% overall, resulting in a 0.35% GDP increase in its sixth year. It will increase U.S. workers’ annual incomes by an average of $150 and increase employment by 0.12%, or roughly 176,000 jobs. Trump has said the pact could bring more than 1 million jobs to the U.S., far beyond other estimates.

Is everyone so positive?

An International Monetary Fund assessment was less rosy for the U.S. It said the agreement will reduce the country’s “welfare” (a measurement of consumption) by $794 million, while boosting Canada’s by $734 million and Mexico’s by $597 million -- “relatively small” effects at the aggregate level.

Just implementing the deal will benefit businesses by providing increased certainty about the future. . ."                ._________________________________________________________________________

POLITICS

So Long, Nafta; Hello, USMCA. What You Need to Know: QuickTake

By Sarah Babbage

As a candidate in 2016, President Donald Trump pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and to terminate it “if we don’t get the deal we want.” After 13 months of diplomatic negotiations, plus further political wrangling within Washington, a replacement takes effect on Wednesday with modest changes in some areas, significant additions in others and a new name, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

June 30, 2020

The Reference Shelf

• The Congressional Research Service summarizes key provisions in the USMCA.
• A side-by-side comparison of Nafta and USMCA.
• These were five sticking points that leaders of the three countries had to work out.
• The African continent is seizing the title of world’s largest free-trade zone.
• A Council on Foreign Relations review of Nafta’s economic impact
• From Bloomberg Government, everything you need to know about the USMCA.
• Summary of changes that U.S. Democrats negotiated in the agreement.

— With assistance by Erik Wasson

Published on ‎November‎ ‎26‎, ‎2019‎ ‎9‎:‎37‎ ‎AM
Updated on ‎June‎ ‎29‎, ‎2020‎ ‎9‎:‎00‎ ‎PM

Have a confidential tip for our reporters?
GET IN TOUCH

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

 

VIRTUAL PLATFORM > Mesa City Council Meetings 01.07.2020 / ACCESS TO INFORMATION

How do the six Mesa City Council District representatives and the Mayor use this available Visual Platform Zoom?
"The Mesa City Council believes that its people, not leaders, are what makes a City great and actively works to encourage citizen participation in the decision-making process. Whether it is through neighborhood meetings, advisory boards and committees, telephone calls and letters, or email, the Mesa City Council sets policies based on the input and needs of its citizens.

HOW ABOUT A CITIZEN PARTICIPATION REPORT FOR EVERY ONE OF THE SEVEN?
Exactly how did your elected and salaried representatives encourage their constituents - you - to get involved in city government and the decision-making process?
Did they contact and/or reach out to you by any or all of the available means for your input?
Did you take the time to contact your district representative? Did they respond?

• Telephone calls and letters
• Email
• Neighborhood meetings
• Social media

Exactly how active are your Mesa City Council members to earn their salaries and benefits?
Where, When, How and Why - and with Who - do they spend their time to make decisions?

Mayor John Giles
Vice Mayor Mark Freeman District 1	Councilmember Jeremy Whittaker District 2	Councilmember Francisco Heredia District 3
Councilmember Jen Duff District 4	Councilmember David Luna District 5	Councilmember Kevin Thompson District 6

  

REFERENCE >> https://www.mesaaz.gov/government/mayor-council 
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REFERENCE >> http://mesa.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx