LAHORE: Lahore police are using four drone cameras to monitor various religious, social and political gatherings, not only to ensure security but also to monitor their own working in the provincial capital.

Superintendent of Police (headquarters) Umar Saeed told Dawn on Sunday that in view of the increased terrorist threat and heightened concern regarding scrutiny of mass gatherings in the city on various occasions like elections, religious and political processions, Lahore police had incorporated drone cameras into its surveillance arsenal.

“Drone cameras are helping us keep a close watch on the movement of people, besides preventing stampedes or stampede-like situations,” the SP said.

He said so far these cameras had been used successfully for aerial surveillance of the urs of Data Sahib, Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA), NA-122 by-elections and during processions taken out on 21st of Ramzan to mark death anniversary of Hazrat Ali (RA).

He said a drone camera could fly 100-200 feet high and used rechargeable batteries that last for around 20 minutes.

Mr Saeed said these cameras were more effective for surveillance than human eye, close-circuit cameras and even helicopters. Elaborating, he said CCTV cameras because of being static had limited range, while the helicopters because of their size and flight altitude were also not that efficient. On the other hand, he added, the drones with their high definition (HD) cameras could monitor and record any suspicious activity or person more closely. He said the operators at central control system could fly the drone to any point that was deemed important for checking.

Mr Saeed said another advantage was that the suspects remained unaware of monitoring through drones as it flew at a height and it could not be ascertain what the drone was focusing on.

“The unmanned machine is equipped with night-vision cameras and can cover a hexagonal area of 3-4 kilometres,” the SP added.

He said the drones could also help in gathering crucial evidence in case of any suicide blast and even the attacker could be identified, while the CCTV cameras got destroyed in such blasts or were unable to record what actually happened and who blew himself up.

He said security arrangements of any event could be reviewed by using drone technology and any shortcomings could be noticed.

Earlier, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mushtaq Sukhera had distributed more than 50 drone cameras among the district police officers of the province in order to equip the police with the latest technology.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2015