NAGPUR: The city police on Thursday would test drones having public announcement (PA) systems as is being done in Mumbai as per the direction of the state home minister Anil Deshmukh.
The minister, in a meeting with officers a day ago, had insisted the city police must follow their Mumbai counterparts and use such drones for better crowd management and enforcing stricter lockdown norms. Deshmukh said they be used at crowded places like markets and shops where enforcing social distancing was crucial.
The city police had initially planned to use the drones of Smart City project but later decided to deploy the ones received from state police headquarters along with five mobile surveillance vehicles (MSV).
Zonal DCP Neelotpal, the nodal officer for the Smart and Safe City project, along with DCP Vikram Sali, are learnt to have engaged a city-based firm which will try installing a live announcement system and wireless connectivity with MSVs that double up as a mini-control room.
If the tests succeed, the drones would be able to monitor the area in a radius of one-kilometre as of now. They would send back images to the MSVs and the public announcements could be made to people on the ground.
DCP Neelotpal said they were trying to enable drones to broadcast live announcements instead of recorded versions. “Our plan is to deploy these drones in such a way that we can guide the crowd live through the MSVs. If we find anyone violating norms then they can be pulled up immediately,” he said.
“The experiment will be on the lines of Mumbai police that have put such drones in some places including Dharavi to good use to control crowd,” said Neelotpal. He said aim is to learn through trial and error.
City police have been facing tricky situations in the smaller lanes and crowded places. At present, they have been using volunteers as special police officers, labelling them ‘Covid Yoddha’ to make public announcements through autorickshaws.
The minister, in a meeting with officers a day ago, had insisted the city police must follow their Mumbai counterparts and use such drones for better crowd management and enforcing stricter lockdown norms. Deshmukh said they be used at crowded places like markets and shops where enforcing social distancing was crucial.
The city police had initially planned to use the drones of Smart City project but later decided to deploy the ones received from state police headquarters along with five mobile surveillance vehicles (MSV).
Zonal DCP Neelotpal, the nodal officer for the Smart and Safe City project, along with DCP Vikram Sali, are learnt to have engaged a city-based firm which will try installing a live announcement system and wireless connectivity with MSVs that double up as a mini-control room.
If the tests succeed, the drones would be able to monitor the area in a radius of one-kilometre as of now. They would send back images to the MSVs and the public announcements could be made to people on the ground.
DCP Neelotpal said they were trying to enable drones to broadcast live announcements instead of recorded versions. “Our plan is to deploy these drones in such a way that we can guide the crowd live through the MSVs. If we find anyone violating norms then they can be pulled up immediately,” he said.
“The experiment will be on the lines of Mumbai police that have put such drones in some places including Dharavi to good use to control crowd,” said Neelotpal. He said aim is to learn through trial and error.
City police have been facing tricky situations in the smaller lanes and crowded places. At present, they have been using volunteers as special police officers, labelling them ‘Covid Yoddha’ to make public announcements through autorickshaws.
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