PANAJI: Goa Police has emerged as the first police department in the country to employ the advanced technology of aerial surveillance using drones equipped with zoom cameras to ensure the safety and security of domestic and international tourists visiting the state in 2017.
The innovative approach was adopted owing to the rapidly evolving threat scenario for large gatherings in the tourist state.
Superintendent of Police (Crime and Anti-Terrorism Squad) Karthik Kashyap informed that this solution was deployed round-the-clock at Timeout 72 music festival as well as for the New Year's Eve in 2017.
“There was a gathering of over two lakh tourists which converged at Vagator, Baga, Candolim and Claangute beaches. Goa Police deployed drones equipped with the latest zoom-capable cameras. At night, special thermal sensing cameras were deployed which were capable of sensing body heat, to monitor dark areas and beaches for the safety of the people. This kind of deployment, in this scale was done for the first time in India, by any police department,” SP Kashyap has disclosed in a press statement.
He further added that the primary objective was to monitor any unusual gatherings, fights and other suspicious activities.
Goa Police succeeded in employing this technology in close collaboration with Bangalore-based start-up IIO Technologies Pvt Ltd, under supervision of its Founder and CEO Sunny Sharma, and in association with DJI.
Under the supervision of SP Kashyap and SP Arvind Gawas, ATS staff was trained to harness the capability of this cutting-edge technology in an effective manner.
SP Kashyap has said that Goa Police will use this aerial surveillance solution to monitor all future high tourist gathering events and activities as well as for search and rescue operations besides other criminal investigations.
