Drones and security: endless applications
Each passing day, drones allow new uses and applications. One of the areas with more diversity are police or security applications. We will see some examples in this article.
Each passing day, drones allow new uses and applications. One of the areas with more diversity are police or security applications. We will see some examples in this article.
Crime scene reconstruction
Jeff Farrar, Gwent police’s chief constable, in South-East Wales, explains how they have recently used drones to solve a crime that was committed 20 years ago: the murder of a woman whose corpse was found at the Wentwood reservoir waters, near Newport: “We put a drone up in the air, the drone was right above the scene and I had in my office perfect HD quality pictures of the scene. We could never have done that [without the drone]. Chief constable added that “I actually think in years to come, and it’s not that far off, we will have one of those drones in the back of every police vehicle so we will be able to deploy those all the time.”
Border control
Another police use of drones is border control: in the conflictive border between the United States and Mexico, for instance, more than 10.000 flights with drones have already been conducted with Predator aircrafts. They can quickly spot the areas with greater range of suspicious activities, and therefore decide more effectively if agents must be sent to the area.
Drones are also beginning to be used in the borders of the European Union: in the United Kingdom, the Kent police department and the customs system are working closely together in the South Coast Partnership, under which they guard the country’s borders, using drones amongst other systems.
Drone-hunter drone
What to do if a drone commits illegal actions? The Tokyo police department has the answer: an antidrone squad made up of big-sized… drones. The squad carries a net that is able to capture the outlaw drones in case they don’t follow police warning of landing immediately. And the idea is that the drone squad patrols those areas in which drone flights are not allowed.
Crowd control
On the other side, South African firm Desert Wolf has presented a drone equipped with loudspeakers and four barrels where you can load plastic balls or pepper spray capsules, hence its nickname, “skunk drone”. With it, you can control demonstrations more safely, and avoid incidents in a more efficient and secure way, says Hennie Kieser, owner of Desert Wolf.
In the town of Lucknow, in India, authorities have already bought five similar drones, equipped with high-definition cameras that allow to record live images of conflict areas, and with a small locker that can carry up to 2 kg of pepper spray.
Accident management and traffic control
Road traffic is another area in which drones have a long way to go. In Spain, the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) is already studying the use of drones in order to control traffic in a more efficient and productive way. Its functions are diverse: reviewing flood areas or other environmental issues, detecting malfunctions, traffic jams, or reading car plates and recording them for possible financial penalties.
Rescue work and search for missing persons
Last but not least, drones are the perfect allies in rescue work and search for missing persons. Unlike traditional helicopters, unmanned drones are way more flexible, they can reach inaccessible places, they can move through rough areas, and they provide high definition images that allow rescue teams to control drones through laptops and other control equipment.
The city council of Málaga, for instance, is using a set of drones manufactured by the University of Málaga, which, equipped with a thermographic camera, are already helping in preventive work and emergency actions.
All these examples, and lots of others uses yet to discover, prove that drones are spreading all over the planet, that they can make of it a safer place… and that there is no question they are here to stay.