A drone has become an essential part of the Queensland police operations new numbers show. During the last year, one or more drones were launched 52 times by the Queensland Police Service photographic section. All flights combined add up to more than 60 hours of flight time in the last year alone.
Last week we reported about a drone patrol program being started in Perth, Australia. Today we learn that drones will be used to patrol the beaches in the far north of Queensland after a series of crocodile attacks. Fatal crocodile attacks have led to Surf Lifesaving Queensland to deploy a drone to spot for crocodiles in swim areas. Ever since crocs were found in stinger enclosures, three beaches have been closed.
As we go into the winter here in New York, summer is just getting started in Perth, Australia. 7 News Perth reports that this year the lifeguards will have a new member on their team, a drone. In Surf Life Saving colors these drones will help the lifeguards patrol the beach, looking for swimmers in need and to spot any sharks nearby. Both swimmers and sharks are very hard to spot from the beach, but from a drone’s point of view, they are clearly visible in the ocean water.
Australian newspaper ABC News reported that a drone has been caught on CCTV dropping what seems to be contraband into Lithgow’s prison in NSW. Last Monday a member of the public alerted the prison staff to the drone flying in the vicinity of the Lithgow Correctional Centre.
It has been a little quiet around Alphabet’s Project Wing, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any progress. Over the last few years, Project Wing has made thousands of test flights and now they are ready to start making deliveries. The test market is Queanbeyan, South Eastern Australia, where two merchants have signed up for Project Wing. Guzman y Gomez, a Mexican food chain, and Chemist Warehouse, a chain of pharmacies. These companies will receive orders from test consumers, who’ve purchased items using the Project Wing app on their smartphones. Project Wing’s drones will then fly out and make the deliveries. The first burrito delivered by drone in Australia is now a fact. Believe it or not, this actually happened before when Google delivered Chipotle Burritos via drones to Virginia Tech college students in Blacksburg.