How Governments can use Drones to Solve Public Safety Issues

With so many companies using drones to provide better service to their clients, the government has also taken various initiatives to make good use of these unmanned air vehicles. Senior police officials are completing Federal Aviation Administration’s courses on UAV and using their knowledge to survey public demonstrations or sites hit by a plane crash or natural disasters.

Drones keep government and its partner organizations under the radar while providing accurate pictures of what is happening on the ground. The high-resolution cameras that are used from a few hundred feet above the ground help authorities pinpoint areas of concern and record videos as well.

How drones are helping police departments

Police sergeants and other senior police officials state that drones not only save money during an operation, but they also help protect the lives of officers on duty. While some unmanned aerial vehicles can carry a small camera to take footage, other drones are big enough to carry heavy duty items at the time of distress.

These drones can be used to carry heavy ropes to rescue a drowning person or can be used to capture footage of someone who is hiding in the bushes. Previously, these types of operations were carried out by armed police officers who were taken to site by helicopters; nowadays all this can be avoided by using simple yet sophisticated drones.

Keeping in view so many benefits that drones can provide to law enforcement agencies, many of the regulations regarding UAVs do not apply to government authorities. Hence, if you see a drone flying above you when you are walking on the street, it is not necessary that it is being flown by a UAV enthusiast, and it can be part of a surveillance activity being conducted by the local police department in your neighborhood.

Challenges associated with Drones being used for public protection

One of the major challenges that the government has been facing for the past few years is transmitting, protecting and storing data gathered by cameras that are fitted into drones. Police or any public safety organization needs to ensure that the visual images that they have gathered are securely recorded and do not get into the hands of criminals.

In order to mitigate this data risk, drones can be connected with secure and high data transmission wireless networks to securely transmit information to police headquarters.

Privacy challenges with UAV’s

When a public safety organization needs to use a drone to carry out air surveillance, they need to present their case in front of the local magistrate to start their investigation. Many states have added drones to their fleet of public safety equipment, and this has helped them keep a check on criminal activities and reduce the population to crime ratio in their area. Rescue agencies are also using drones to compare before and after images of the area hit by natural disasters. It helps them improve the lives of many individuals affected by any type of calamity.