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>Just to name one, I don't have usually a smartphone, or a switched on smartphone, when driving, and the police officer should have a way to find and call my ph

>Just to name one, I don't have usually a smartphone, or a switched on smartphone, when driving, and the police officer should have a way to find and call my phone number, which not necessarily is linked to the car license plate. Sure it's a flawed idea, but may result in better ideas. For example, what about integrating that technology into the car itself? Yeah there are problems to be overcome (doesn't help with cars already out on the road, needs to account for spoofing and 4th Amendment considerations), but it is an interesting direction.

jaclaz 9y ago
I don't think that those aspects you mention, i.e. retrofitting existing cars, spoofing/hacking of the devices and 4th amendment (or similar privacy Laws where applicable) issues are so trifling. The idea in itself may be good but the technology hypothized seems "way off". I would find more doable that police corps were issued a remotely contolled camera (think of a small robot or drone) capable of crawling (or flying) in front of the windshield of the stopped car and show to the officer the inside.
- kybernetikos 9y ago
  Yeah, this seems like a good idea and pretty doable. Every police car could have a drone that would be useful in a variety of situations. In a traffic stop, it could take off from the roof of the police car and land on the windscreen of the stopped car. A small screen can relay instructions to the driver while he is filmed. With the prices of quite powerful drones coming down so dramatically, this might even be a cost effective way to save lives, while at the same time giving police an extra tool for lots of situations, not just traffic stops. I wonder if there's business potential in making roof mounted drones that can land on windshields. Ideally, it could also record sound by latching onto the windshield and detecting vibrations with some sort of contact or laser microphone but I'm not sure how realistic that would be (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00542-015-2795-x https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00542-015-2795-x looks like a start).
  - jaclaz 9y ago
    I was thinking more along the lines of something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hornet_Nano https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hornet_Nano Or of the micro-bugs/robot spiders in Minority Report, I mean the idea is that the police officer can see inside the (already stopped) car, to give orders he/she can shout or use the microphone and loudspeaker, that all patrol cars have, I believe, in the US. There is always an issue with language, maybe, but the idea of the small screen with text assumes that the stopped driver can see it properly (imagine an older chap that reaches for his spectacles ...).
    - kybernetikos 9y ago
      That is a very cool drone. I doubt that it needs to be so small though. I was thinking of something like a customized mavic pro. Automatic position keeping, person tracking (potentially both officers and suspects) and automatic navigation to particular locations, plus the ability to operate reasonably well in high winds and perhaps cost too argue for something a bit larger and heavier. In most countries, ability to read street signs is part of the requirement for a drivers license. Reaching for spectacles isn't as threatening if the police are back sitting in the patrol car anyway, and there are always edge cases - how do police interact with deaf drivers now? (edit: just checked, seems like they get shot disproportionately often...) But yeah, maybe the screen (which could include glyphs as well as text, or multiple languages) wouldn't work. I'd need to experiment to see what sort of size you could get away with and how reliably you could make sure it was visible. Of course having a screen doesn't preclude the use of loudspeaker either.
      - jaclaz 9y ago
        >In most countries, ability to read street signs is part of the requirement for a drivers license. Older people tend to develop presbyopia, they can see and read signs alright, i.e. they drive normally without correction lenses but they need them to read at "windscreen distance". At least at the time my father managed to collect a fair number of speed tickets, claiming that he couldn't see properly the speedometer. As a side note, "in most countries" traffic stops ending up in a shooting or more generally people shot by police are much more rare than in the US. The (unofficial) numbers reported on this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_firearm_use_by_country#Comparison_of_countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_firearm_use_by_country#... are impressive.

jaclaz 9y ago

I don't think that those aspects you mention, i.e. retrofitting existing cars, spoofing/hacking of the devices and 4th amendment (or similar privacy Laws where applicable) issues are so trifling. The idea in itself may be good but the technology hypothized seems "way off". I would find more doable that police corps were issued a remotely contolled camera (think of a small robot or drone) capable of crawling (or flying) in front of the windshield of the stopped car and show to the officer the inside.

kybernetikos 9y ago
Yeah, this seems like a good idea and pretty doable. Every police car could have a drone that would be useful in a variety of situations. In a traffic stop, it could take off from the roof of the police car and land on the windscreen of the stopped car. A small screen can relay instructions to the driver while he is filmed. With the prices of quite powerful drones coming down so dramatically, this might even be a cost effective way to save lives, while at the same time giving police an extra tool for lots of situations, not just traffic stops. I wonder if there's business potential in making roof mounted drones that can land on windshields. Ideally, it could also record sound by latching onto the windshield and detecting vibrations with some sort of contact or laser microphone but I'm not sure how realistic that would be (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00542-015-2795-x https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00542-015-2795-x looks like a start).
- jaclaz 9y ago
  I was thinking more along the lines of something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hornet_Nano https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hornet_Nano Or of the micro-bugs/robot spiders in Minority Report, I mean the idea is that the police officer can see inside the (already stopped) car, to give orders he/she can shout or use the microphone and loudspeaker, that all patrol cars have, I believe, in the US. There is always an issue with language, maybe, but the idea of the small screen with text assumes that the stopped driver can see it properly (imagine an older chap that reaches for his spectacles ...).
  - kybernetikos 9y ago
    That is a very cool drone. I doubt that it needs to be so small though. I was thinking of something like a customized mavic pro. Automatic position keeping, person tracking (potentially both officers and suspects) and automatic navigation to particular locations, plus the ability to operate reasonably well in high winds and perhaps cost too argue for something a bit larger and heavier. In most countries, ability to read street signs is part of the requirement for a drivers license. Reaching for spectacles isn't as threatening if the police are back sitting in the patrol car anyway, and there are always edge cases - how do police interact with deaf drivers now? (edit: just checked, seems like they get shot disproportionately often...) But yeah, maybe the screen (which could include glyphs as well as text, or multiple languages) wouldn't work. I'd need to experiment to see what sort of size you could get away with and how reliably you could make sure it was visible. Of course having a screen doesn't preclude the use of loudspeaker either.
    - jaclaz 9y ago
      >In most countries, ability to read street signs is part of the requirement for a drivers license. Older people tend to develop presbyopia, they can see and read signs alright, i.e. they drive normally without correction lenses but they need them to read at "windscreen distance". At least at the time my father managed to collect a fair number of speed tickets, claiming that he couldn't see properly the speedometer. As a side note, "in most countries" traffic stops ending up in a shooting or more generally people shot by police are much more rare than in the US. The (unofficial) numbers reported on this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_firearm_use_by_country#Comparison_of_countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_firearm_use_by_country#... are impressive.