CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s Head of Police Force, DGP C Sylendra Babu along with Chennai Police Commissioner, Shankar Jiwal on Thursday inaugurated “Drone police unit” for the Chennai City Police.
The project costed Rs 3.6 crore and is the first of its kind in India, Tamil Nadu Police claimed.
The Drone Police Unit will comprise a total of 9 drones under three categories - Quick Response Surveillance Drones (6 numbers), Heavy Lift multirotor Drone and Long Range Survey wing plane (2 numbers)
All drones are equipped with built-in Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities and can be operated up to a distance of 5-10 Kms from the ground station (i.e.) the Drone Police Unit.
“These drones equipped with artificial intelligence technology can accurately estimate the crowd during a festival or gathering thereby enabling Police to correctly plan crowd control strategies,” stated an official release.
Also, the drones are equipped with ANPR (automatic number plate registration) cameras which are capable of doing real time check with the vehicles registration data base and spot suspects, stolen vehicles, in real time.
The Heavy Lift Drone equipped with thermal cameras can detect and rescue people caught in the sea waves by deploying life jacket even during the night, the release added.
This Drone Police Unit of Greater Chennai Police sets in motion the path towards modernisation of Tamil Nadu Police as envisaged by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and will be a model for other State Police to emulate, Tamil Nadu Police said.