City police gets UAV to monitor crowds, rallies
Mrigank Tiwari, TNN
BAREILLY: Bareilly police have received the first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) from state police headquarters for maintaining law and order in the city. Costing nearly Rs 1 crore, the UAV will be used to monitor activities of crowds during the 430 annual religious processions taken out in the city.
The UAV will capture images and conduct videography of potential trouble spots as well as identify mischief mongers and help police in tracking down elements who until now have eluded the police dragnet despite their active involvement in violence.
Sharing details with TOI, circle officer (CO),city, Mukul Dwivedi said “The device has already been sent to us by state police headquarters and within a day or two, the technical staff of the company that manufactured the UAV will be arriving. They will be imparting training a group of constables who will handle the device thereafter”.
The introduction of a UAV in controlling law and order assumes significance as the city witnesses more than 430 religious processions every year. This is the time when communal and sectarian flare-ups are quite common. Cops managing the security of the processions, have a tough time in keeping an eye on troublemakers accompanying the procession and indulging in violence.
Once the UAV is introduced, it would capture images, video record the whole incident which would help police in identifying troublemakers and act against them.
“Until now, we had to depend on mediapersons and private photographers to provide us photographs and video footage to track down perpetrators of violence and nail them. But with the UAV at our disposal, a constable sitting at a safe distance will operate the machine and take photographs and videos that will be r scrutinized later by officials”.
Talking to TOI, DIG, range, R K S Rathor said, “Use of the UAV has already been successful in districts like Lucknow where they have come in handy for cops to control traffic and keep a watch on activities of mischief mongers. It gives us a wide view of objects and persons in the surroundings where the UAV is being used. It will also establish credibility of police.”
