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  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

police able to spot marijuana from helicopters?

smokin' joe

smokin' joe

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Jan 12, 2003
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A friend of mine had a small marijuana plant (about 2 feet tall) growing in a pot on her veranda. You couldn't see the plant unless you are on the veranda. The veranda has no roof so it's totally open air.

Her landlord (who is cool with drugs etc) saw the plant on the porch and told her to take the plant inside because he claims that the police can see it from their helicopter that sometimes circles around the area.

I thought this was pretty over paranoid of him. I mean from that distance they would have to zoom in on every single plant in the whole neighboorhood just to find that one small plant, seems pretty unlikely to me.

I was however wondering if there was any truth in the matter. Another friend told me that they have some sort of infrared sight that picks out the THC containing plants. I'm still not so sure.

Anyone know?
 
I think the infrared camera picks up plantations, not just single plants. I believe (could be wrong), that larger crops generate a reasonable amount of heat, but one plant wouldn't show up.

But having a plant on the verandah probably isn't the smartest idea anyways...
 
I don't think the infrared cameras are able to pick up THC. What they pick up is the massive heat signals from the hydroponics required to grow large crops in urban areas such as warehouses.

I think your landlord is being ridiculously paranoid. It is damn unlikely that a single plant could be identified from a helicopter, much less likely that the peron who saw a single plant would even give a shit! They have bigger fish to fry - if they're looking for drugs at all, they're looking for the heat signatures of massive hydro setups!
 
thats paranoid, in S.A. we have had helicopters circling the less well off areas for years looking for houses that are 22 degrees and one room that is 35degrees. next day they come round and say hellow.

technolgy is amazing now as well they can tell if a car has been "hooning" by the heat signature off the engine, cluch, gear box and brakes amazing. compared to a car that is driving in a "non-hoonish"

you'd have more chance off bored people looking over your fence and seeing it, then coming back that night with their friends to see what you have in your house, carefull
 
i believe they pick up on the watering systems that dont belong in the bush, and as other people mentioned the heat signatures from the hydro kits in suburbia.

looking in peoples backyards from the air doesnt exactly sound legal to me, nor a good use of police resources. police are streched as much as it is, having two guys in the air looking for one or two plants just aint worth thier time.
 
A POLICE helicopter was used to find....

I know they use them in the south of WA to spot plants growing amongst the national parks and land in the country. Although they could, I somehow doubt they would use the same techniques to go looking for individual plants in peoples back yards though.
 
The IR looks for heat from indoor hydro setups and petrol generators running water pumps outdoor.1 plant on a balcony wont be spotted,but the landlords being half decent so id do what they say,get a lamp and stick it in a cupboard.
 
sounds a bit like ppl are a little too paranoid really... i mean really... if someones only got a plant or 2... then fuck.. will they really care?
 
Unless the helicopter is part of a raid on the house, or there's a dope leaf painted on the roof, I don't think a single pot plant on the balcony would be given a second glance
 
smokin' joe said:
Her landlord (who is cool with drugs etc) saw the plant on the porch and told her to take the plant inside because he claims that the police can see it from their helicopter that sometimes circles around the area.

I thought this was pretty over paranoid of him. I mean from that distance they would have to zoom in on every single plant in the whole neighboorhood just to find that one small plant, seems pretty unlikely to me.

Anyone know?
Click to expand...

Put it this way, go and get google earth and take a look at that. If the general public has access to world pictures like that (i could see my house very cleary :\ ) Lets just say that they prob know about it but way to much red tape and paper work. Also, i wouldnt be suprised if the military/goverment knew about "everything" we do with the amount of satelites etc.
 
yeah that google earth thing gave me the creeps:\
I mean it was only a still photo and definatly not powerful enough to see what was in the backyard or anything, but thats only what is available to the public. I'm sure they have got access to zoom into whatever they want, where ever they want8( 8( lol
 
many modern police helicopters are equiped with technology called "Spectral Imaging" it works buy picking up the minutest differences in colour in a huge range of frequencies and spectrums to detect pre-programmed targets.
the military uses the same thing to detect camoflauged tanks and can even use it to detect freshly buried landmines.
 
AFAIK infra red can't pick up anything except for heat and some other things...

only an ION scanner can say exactly what a plant or material is.
if the police knew about the plant, they'd probably just note it down and put the region under survelliance for a while...if nothing happens...then nothing will happen.
 
i heard from a friend that the police helicopter is about to do a sweep of the NNSW area any idea if this is correct?
 
I have used ADFA satellite imaging facilities and from what I gathered talking to the people there the simplest way is to use satellite photos across the spectrum (ie also outside visible). Using this data and image processing techniques its easy to determine the type of various plants and even chemical makeup of some objects.

I would suggest this is much more concerning than a helicopter, however Im sure these are also used.
I would suspect that one plant is not worth the effort for them but you never know?
 
google earth is 2 years old...the photos aren't in realtime, but are quite dated.
 
pillsnapa: You will notice they are constantly updating the images. Focus on central Sydney or Melbourne? and you will see a copyright for 2006 in the bottom of the image (Digital Globe maybe?)

I think they do update them and increase the resolution occasionaly
 
I was at a mates about 3 years ago .. we were working on his car in the driveway .. anyway a chopper flew past and didnt pay much attention to it until it passed over again ... then again ... but lowered its altitude slowly then hoverd over the house then went away,I said to my mate ya better hide that 1 metre plant you got growing in the backyard , which he did.Then the chopper returned and this time hovered so low i couldnt hear my self think and im sure if i threw a rock it would have hit it, but we looked up and waved :) with a big smile .. they flew away and never seen again with no problems there after.It costs $2000+ a hour to keep that chopper in the air so really to fly over to bust someone for 1 plant is not in their intrests. If they saw maybe 10-20 plants then you should be worried.
 
i think the cops are gearing up to do their annual chopper sweep of the NNSW region, have heard this from a few people and yesterday i saw the truck that they use to confiscate big crops parked at the police station
just in time for mardi grass
 
my dad knows a D and they do use helicopters over metro adelaide from about this time till April or May.
anyone know why this time of year is so important? is it all the outdoor stuff finishing off?
 
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