Sound The Trumpet : Futuristic Aerial Surveillance

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“Futuristic Aerial Surveillance - Coming to a City Near You?”
by Prophecy New Watch
July 25th, 2014

Seemingly, almost daily, we hear of a new technique being used to “spy” on our every move. This past year has witnessed a barrage of revelations concerning the erosion of privacy and the encroachment of “Big Brother” into the daily lives of average citizens.

Law enforcement agencies argue that these surveillance techniques are needed to improve safety, apprehend criminals and increasingly, to prevent crime. Those concerned with the erosion of privacy argue that many of these new technologies go too far.

So into this debate enters Persistent Surveillance Systems (PSS). PSS is a surveillance technology, originally developed as a research project at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) back in 2004.

PSS utilizes a surveillance flight, airplane or helicopter, carrying specialized cameras that can monitor 25 square miles of territory, providing something no ordinary law enforcement helicopter or plane can: a TiVo-styled time machine that surveys and records movements of every person and vehicle below!

Currently, the “eye in the sky” does have its limitations; the cameras only shoot for a few hours at a time, in daytime, and not always in color. Also, depending upon the altitude of the flight, the pictures can only is used to track, not identify, suspects.

Concerning the success of the PSS system, Ross McNutt, the CEO of the company, states, "We have witnessed 34 people being murdered within our imaged areas and have been able to track people to and from those scenes. The people who confessed, on being captured with assistance from our imagery, confessed for a total of 75 murders.”

In the past, in cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Cleveland, and at events like the 2014 Indianapolis 500, PSS has been employed to monitor the landscape, scrutinizing for possible criminal behavior.

Currently PSS has no active contracts inside the United States and McNutt is increasingly mystified at cities that won’t hire his aerial surveillance firm.

At this time, the retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel is lobbying 10 US cities— Chicago and nine others he declines to name—for longer contracts.

The PSS Surveillance Company came under considerable scrutiny following a secretive operation conducted over the city of Compton, CA.

In 2012, PSS ran a nine-day test there under the authority of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, unbeknownst to Compton city officials.

When news of the test was reported earlier this year by the Center for Investigative Reporting and the Los Angeles Times, city officials, including the Mayor of Compton, strongly objected. The LA Sheriffs Department admitted concealing the experiment due to citizen’s concerns about surveillance.

"The system was kind of kept confidential from everybody in the public. A lot of people do have a problem with the eye in the sky, the Big Brother, so in order to mitigate any of those kinds of complaints, we basically kept it pretty hush-hush," confessed the Sheriff’s office.

It is easy to imagine the litany of privacy concerns raised by such a technology. PSS could potentially be used for nefarious purposes, thus the reluctance of cities to embrace the technology, at least not publicly.

Despite the issues involved, if Ross Mc Nutt is successful, PSS could be headed to a neighborhood near you!

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13