Having tested the effectiveness of drones in management
of processions and traffic flow, the Hyderabad police are on their way to add
more of them to their ‘Drone Wing’. Currently, the Hyderabad police have two
drones used for monitoring gatherings and traffic movement in the city.
During important public gatherings such as Hanuman
Jayanthi, Bonalu, Milad un Nabi, Ganesh Visarjanam, Muharram, and other big
processions the police are planning to deploy drones to monitor the activity.
This apart, during major protest meetings or rallies the police are deploying
the drones to monitor the locations of trouble makers who usually hide in lanes
and bylanes.
“Drones help in closely monitoring the gatherings and act
as deterrence to trouble makers. If any one creates trouble and tries to
escape, his movements can be tracked from air using a drone and help in
apprehending them,” said an official of the Information Technology cell of
Hyderabad police.
During the Muharram procession recently, the drone wing
deployed six drones to monitor the procession. The teams were stationed at
strategic locations to use the drones and give findings to the local police.
“Every team has two men, one person operates the drone
and the other supports him. The information collected is passed on to the local
supervisor officers to redress it,” said the official.
A few policemen were trained for the job and in the
coming days the drone unit will have more men and machines. After studying the
operational effectiveness of the drones, the police higher ups are placing
orders for more drones. The traffic police will also be using drones to monitor
the traffic and help in reducing traffic slowdown or traffic jams.