police drones

Uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) perform a great many tasks in countless places, with those capacities and venues expanding all the time. This week a drone was successfully flown in the UK on a less frequent mission than one usually hears about: policing areas exposed during low tides for illegal shellfish pickers.

To many people, the pilfering of building areas is a quasi-victimless crime: goods are boosted, businesses file claims, insurance pays up. But that illegal activity costs affected companies hundreds of millions each year, which is why some are now relying on drones to patrol construction sites to battle thieves.

The 1930s-40 radio show The Shadow famously began each episode with the reminder/warning that its crime-fighting hero “knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men,” and relied on that knowledge to bring criminals to justice. A UK police drone has gone one better by using the heat lurking in the bodies of three bank robbers to help nearby officers bust them (while taking a nifty video of the cuffing to boot).

Indicative of its status as one of Europe’s most popular vacation destinations, Spain is currently dealing with a surge from the 91.2 million cars expected across the nation’s roads this summer. As part of their effort to ensure that travel glut circulates well (or as smoothly as inevitable traffic snarls allow), Spanish police are flying drones to keep watch for breakdowns, accidents, and ­– not least of all ­– driving offenses.

Researchers in the Czech Republic have developed a way to make uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) more effective in monitoring large groups of people. To achieve that, scientists are making drones smarter by linking them to neural networks that detect when crowds under surveillance show signs indicating trouble.

Motorists around the world have been forced to adapt their ill-advised bending of rules of the road to the spreading presence of tech’s cop proxies – whether cameras capturing red light burners, or fixed radar boxes photographing the plates of speeding cars. Drones have also been added to that police enforcement mix, as law-breaking drivers in Poland have now painfully discovered.

The Malaysian government has approved a budget of $11.3 million (MYR 48 million) to allow its police department to purchase 16 vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drones. The budget endorsement comes at a time when thousands of medics, who have played a key role in the country’s COVID-19 response, are protesting over low wages and job insecurity. As a result, many on social media are questioning the cost of these drones, pointing out that the New York Police Department was able to secure 14 drones for $480,000 (MYR 2 million) only in 2018.

The latest innovation to battle thousands of migrants attempting illegal Channel crossings from northern France to England has been thwarted on legal grounds. Plans to fly police drones detecting and monitoring the organization and launch of illicit passages have been grounded by French laws as violating individual privacy rights.

As an initiative, it qualifies as “doing good for drones for good.” Tech, cloud, and solutions provider Aquiline Drones is offering its uncrewed aerial system (UAS) commercial training and education program free of charge to first responders across the US in gratitude for the work they do on everyone’s behalf.

Scores of people were arrested in southern England Sunday after drone-flying police busted revelers at a giant rave violating the country’s continuing COVID-19 restrictions. Footage from the craft showed countless cars parked along roads abutting the pastureland used for the illegal party, aiding them in organizing moves to break it up. 

After being stolen at gunpoint last week, a 10-month-old French bulldog puppy has been reunited with his owner in Culver City, California. And it took a police car pursuit and drones to chase down the bad guy.

Recurring debate over police use of drones has resumed after authorities in upstate New York flew an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as part of their search of a suspected gun offender’s home. That was preceded by a hubbub sparked by police in New York City using a robotic dog in certain interventions.

A report from the Chicago Sun-Times is raising eyebrows. The newspaper has uncovered that the Chicago Police Department has bought drones using funds acquired through the seizure of property and cash.

This may sound like something straight out of an episode of Black Mirror, but police surveillance via facial recognition drones has already become a reality in the Middle East.

No one’s above the law, especially now that police routinely use drones as part of their investigative toolkits. Twenty-two people face fines in Birmingham, England, after a police drone spotted an illegal rave.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office in Florida was able to locate a fleeing suspect with the help of its drone in the air watching over him until officers were able to get to him and take him into custody. The man has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without the intent to kill, with another charge in a neighboring county.

A new UAV marketed to police SWAT teams includes a feature we’ve never seen before: The drone has a whirling blade that smashes glass.

Research has shown that British police have been using drones to monitor protests and rallies throughout 2020 and likely into the new year. Drone Watch was able to gather information on police usage of drones around the UK from January to October 2020.

Winona County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota faces scrutiny from the public after purchasing a new drone for $5,929, resulting in the county’s board ordering a review of the sheriff’s office drones’ usage.

In Florida, Port St. Lucie Police turned to its DJI Mavic 2 Zoom drone when two children went missing, finding them soon after. The drone was sent up to locate the children after the families notified police that they had gone missing.

Woodbury, Minnesota, will soon lay out its plans to purchase a drone for its police department to use in day-to-day operations. Woodbury will join others cities in the state, which have already begun implementing drone technology into various police operations.