Hyderabad police to expand drone wing for better surveillance, crowd and traffic management

The Hyderabad Police are expanding their drone wing to enhance surveillance during festivals, protests, and traffic monitoring. With six drones deployed during Muharram and more on the way, drones are proving to be effective tools for crowd control and deterrence.

Hyderabad: 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.

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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 on Sunday, 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.