8/6/2015 – OKC, OK — In what is probably a first EVER, a drone has been used to document an act of street prostitution and public lewdness – and its been done by JohnTV.com. But don’t get your hopes up of many more videos of this nature from Oklahoma City’s own Video Vigilante.
Back in March of this year, JohnTV’s Brian Bates was documenting street prostitution activities along south Oklahoma City’s notorious Robinson Avenue.
A known felon street prostitute was picked up by a ‘John’ and taken to a commercial tire dump where JohnTV has documented dozens of examples of prostitution related acts of public lewdness over the years.
However, because of another suspicious vehicle that was following and keeping watch over the prostitute and ‘John’, Bates decided to launch his drone to avoid a possibly violent confrontation.
You can see the video below….
You may be asking yourself, “Since when did JohnTV purchase a drone, why is this just now being posted and when are we going to see more of these videos?”
Video Vigilante Brian Bates has experimented with drone technology for awhile now. ‘Friends’ of our Facebook page will recall this photo from 2010 of Bates using a low-tech Parrot AR drone near SW 34 and S. Robinson Ave.
JohnTV’s Video Vigilante Brian Bates experimenting with a low-end drone in 2010 on S. Robinson Ave.
Low cost drones (like the one pictured above) proved to be of no use to JohnTV because of their extremely limited capabilities and low quality video.
Bates experimented with other types of drones and ultimately invested in a pro-sumer quality drone with the purchase of a DJI Phantom 2 well over a year ago. It was with his Phantom 2 that Bates recorded the ‘bust’ above. Soon thereafter, Bates sold the 2 series but recently upgraded to a Phantom 3 Advanced.
Though Bates often has his drone with him when documenting street prostitution, the video above marks only the third time he’s launched it in an effort to document illegal activity – and the only time he has been successful at capturing it.
“I was first inspired to purchase a drone and use it in my activism because I thought it would be safer and more stealthy overall,” says Bates.
“But what I soon realized is that there are factors I had never considered before piloting a drone and those concerns have convinced me that I probably will not utilize drones in this manner very often, if ever again,” said Bates.
Bates says that he decided to release the footage now, almost 6 months after recording it, because he continually gets people (even police officers) asking why he doesn’t use drones when documenting criminal activity. Most inquiries coming from the perspective that drone usage would be safer for all involved over in-person confrontations.
Bates says that’s not so in his experience. “First, before you even launch the drone you have to calibrate it’s location and make note of any obstacles like power lines, antennas, buildings, tall trees, etc. Once the drone is airborne you have to locate the suspected offender and make certain they are parked somewhere the drone can actually safely approach, and all of this takes time and patience,” says Bates.
But the concerns don’t end there. “Because of the limitations of the lens, you have to get a drone pretty close to your subject to actually document any prosecutable illegal activity. This means that I only approach the individuals if they are inside their car so that I don’t run the risk of striking them with the drone. You also should have the property owner’s permission to be on their property since you will be flying at lower than normal altitude and it could be considered trespassing. And, after all that, there is the real concern that while piloting the drone I’ll develop tunnel vision and that makes me open to assault by a pimp or someone else walking up behind me,” said Bates.
Collage of images from JohnTV’s first ever drone bust.
Bates says he launched the drone in this case because of the green truck (see in the video above) that had previously picked up and then dropped off the prostitute, proceeded to follow her and her ‘John’ and then park nearby where he could keep an eye on her.
“I knew if the driver of the truck saw me approaching the ‘John’s’ truck on foot he might come after me if he was her pimp. I’d be in the open and I’d have two large vehicles to deal with,” said Bates.
Bates says he prefers to limit the use of his drones to recording b-roll footage to be used by JohnTV and area non-profits in their efforts to increase public awareness.
Bates said he most recently recorded footage for a local non-profit of aerial views of S. Robinson Ave. and the intersections of I-35 and I-40 for their use in an upcoming public service announcement.
JohnTV drone still to be used to illustrate the transient nature of human traffickers and how they use our nations’ interstates to criss cross the country.
The footage from the March bust has been made available to law enforcement for investigation and possible criminal charges.
The News Interview:
OKC police arrive on scene during JohnTV’s news interview.
KFOR News Channel 4’s Ali Meyer interviewed JohnTV’s Brian Bates regarding the drone bust featured in this article.
On a side note, a funny thing happened while conducting our interview. Apparently a neighbor or passerby mistook the interview for an armed robbery and called 911 to report someone with a gun and that others had their hands up.
Shortly thereafter two marked police cars and a police bicycle patrol officer arrived with lights and sirens blaring (who knew police bicycles had sirens?).
Police were good sports about the false alarm and were very professional and friendly.
You can watch the b-roll footage and the police arrival in the clip below…
KFOR News Ch4’s Ali Meyer Facebook post about the false alarm.
