The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has begun deploying a pilotless drone called SkySeer for rescue operations and tracking "persons of interest." The craft was developed by Chang Industries, according to Xeni Jardin, who did a piece on this morning's Day to Day on NPR and posted about it on Boing Boing. Initial use will be for search and rescue. "We're not flying it anywhere we're not already allowed to fly a helicopter," said LASD Commander Charles Heal. "This just allows us to get closer to dangerous situations more safely."

Photos from a demonstration flight on Flickr