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May 23, 2019

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Police drones on right flight path with 5G network

By Chen Huizhi | 00:12 UTC+8 May 23, 2019 | Print Edition

The 5G network is expected to lift the efficiency of police drones, according to a forum at the Shanghai International Public Security Expo yesterday.

At present, police in different parts of the country operate about 6,000 drones, said Tang Weijia, an official of the public security bureau of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province.

With more than 100 drones used for daily patrols, crime solving and surveillance during public events, Suzhou police were the first to use them back in 2014.

“With 5G, police drones will be able to more accurately locate a target, take live videos and shoot 360-degree panorama videos,” Tang said.

“I predict that after three to five years, these drones will replace most of the current ones operated by police.”

Tang said the current challenge is to train police officers to competently use drones because “many drones are never properly used after being purchased.”

“Since the police drones are expensive and their use usually has to be approved by officials, they’re not available for daily practice,” he said.

He proposed the development of drone models and mobile apps. Meanwhile, the benefit of drones in police work has been more and more visible.

Ningjin County public security bureau officers in Dezhou City, Shandong Province, don’t have to patrol the streets to know what’s going on, according to officer Li Ming.

Increase in efficiency

“It takes only 40 minutes for the drone to take off from our yard, look over the whole area under our administration which is under 30 kilometers in diameter and fly back,” he said.

“The drone flies at a height of 200 meters and can detect car plates clearly.”

The drone also significantly increases the efficiency of traffic police dealing with accidents. In the past police had to go to the scene, measure distances between vehicles and then draw a picture to help determine responsibility.

“It took at least half an hour at the scene,” Li said. “But now we fly a drone over, take a photo, input it to a computer and have drawing software analyze the distances and angles of the vehicles. It takes only 10 minutes.”

He added that this works especially well for traffic accidents involving multiple vehicles on expressways.

In Shanghai, police have started a trial using drones to investigate traffic accidents.

Jiang Xuzhou, a manager of Shanghai Security Service Group Co which provides drone services to local police, said a trial in Songjiang District has increased traffic police efficiency by 50 percent.

However, the way the drones are used here is different.

“Drones can’t take off from just anywhere as it is such a crowded city,” he said.

“Our solution is to patrol with drones so that they can be there when they spot an accident.”

Metro


 

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