Andhra Pradesh Police to procure 10 drones

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Police will acquire 10 high technology Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for conducting a variety of security and crowd management-related activities.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu gave the go ahead to the police for the procurement after he was presented a demonstration of the UAVs and their applications, said a press release from Director General of Police JV Ramudu.

The soon to be procured 10 UAVs would be deployed for surveillance, crime and crowd control, continuous monitoring of agitation programmes, religious processions, traffic control and disaster management, the release said.

They will also be used for tracking the movements of smugglers of drugs and red sanders and other contraband substances.

"These cameras will be used across the State for obtaining panoramic views of crowds gathered at key areas and to keep watch on impending natural calamities such as floods, cyclones and other natural disasters. They will also be used for agriculture crop management, water management, making use of image enhancement technology for image processing of vast tracks of land to distinguish the healthy and defective crops for timely harvesting purpose," the release added.

"The police applications include use of advanced software for facial recognition and identification of known offenders from out of the video footage available from the public places obtained through CCTV cameras and Drone cameras fitted with high-resolution infrared cameras, thermal cameras capable of distinguishing the faces out of the database of such known offenders.

"It is also proposed to make use of this technology for the location of lost or abandoned vehicles, goods, missing persons and other unattended materials coming under its purview," the DGP's statement said.

"It is expected that use of this high technology UAVs will bring down crime and road accidents, improve traffic flow and curb organised crime involving smuggling of valuable forest and other natural resources of the State."