Nagpur police try drones with laoudspeakers for crowd control
Nagpur updates: On Thursday, the city police will check drones with public announcement (PA) systems, as is done in Mumbai under the leadership of State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. In a meeting with officers a day ago, the city police insisted that they emulate their counterparts in Mumbai and use these drones to boost crowd control and implement more rigorous lockdown standards.
Deshmukh said they’re used in crowded places like markets and shops where social distance regulation was crucial. Initially, the city police intended to use the Smart City project drones but later chose to deploy the obtained ones from state police headquarters along with five mobile surveillance vehicles (MSV).
Together with DCP Vikram Sali, Zonal DCP Neelotpal, the nodal officer for the Smart and Safe City project, is learned to engage a city-based company that will try to build a live announcement system and wireless connectivity with MSVs that doubles up as a mini-control space.
If the tests are successful, the drones could track the area within a one-kilometer radius as of now. They would send pictures back to the MSVs, so they will make public announcements to people on the ground.
DCP Neelotpal said it was trying to allow drones to broadcast live announcements rather than recorded versions. “Our plan is to deploy these drones so we can direct the crowd through the MSVs live. If we notice someone violating expectations then they can be automatically pulled up” he said.
“The experiment will be on Mumbai Police lines that have put these drones to good use in some places like Dharavi to monitor crowds,” Neelotpal said. He said target is learning through trial and error. In the narrower lanes and crowded areas city police faced tricky circumstances. Currently, volunteers were used as special police officers, calling them ‘Covid Yoddha’ to make public announcements via autorickshaws.
