[Image: Flying with the LAPD Air Support Division; Instagram by BLDGBLOG].
Over the past three years, I?ve gone on multiple flights with the LAPD Air Support Division, during both the day and night; my goal was to understand how police see the city from above.
[Image: Freeways and escape routes; Instagrams by BLDGBLOG].
Does the aerial view afford new insights into how distant neighborhoods are connected, for example, or how criminals might attempt to hide?or flee?from police oversight" Where are these other, illicit routes and refuges"
More importantly, are they temporary accidents of criminal behavior and urban geography, or are they much deeper flaws and vulnerabilities hidden in the city?s very design"
[Images: Instagrams by BLDGBLOG]. Aerial patrols seems to promise a ubiquitous, and near-omniscient, amplification of police vision, even as the fabric of the city itself is put to alternative use by the activities of criminals.
I documented these flights through hundreds of photographs?many of which can be seen here?as well as in my forthcoming book, A Burglar?s Guide to the City.
However, an excerpt of that book has also been adapted for this weekend?s New York Times Magazine, including a look at Thomas More?s Utopia in the context of the LAPD, the navigational ?rules of four,? and a look at the array of technical devices installed aboard each police helicopter.
[Images: Inside the airship; Instagrams by BLDGBLOG].
The ?rules of four,? for e...