Delhi wants drones to watch over trouble-makers

Going beyond boots on the ground, Delhi Police wants eyes in the sky to watch over 'trouble-makers'. Burdened with increasing number of protests, the department plans to procure drones, which will be mounted with high-definition cameras.

The drones will be used to keep real time surveillance on protesters and general public during events involving crowds, and the footage used for post-incident analysis. Police currently use private cameramen or borrows footage from TV channels in most cases.

If all goes well, a global tender for the drones will be floated and the deal finalized in a few months time.

Sources said the department would prefer drones that are less than 2 meter long and 1 meter wide, and weigh less than 2kg may be preferred. These drones are likely to fly at a speed of around 40km per hour.

The drone cameras would provide images and videos with enough clarity to enable zooming in on an individual suspect in a crowd from a distance of more than 100 metres, sources said. The drones will be operated and controlled from a ground station through remote control.

These drones, sources said, will be designed to fly every 15-30 minutes and have a capacity to cover an area of more than 500 square metres and capture live feeds of the crowd below. The videos will be simultaneously relayed to the control room. The machines would be able to fly up to a height of 100 metres, accessing corners where the police cannot reach.