Warangal: The Bhupalapalli police has started using technology to check crime. The cops are testing drone fitted cameras to collect aerial pictures and transmit them to the control room to nab criminals faster. Though the operation is still on trial it is showing results on the ground in Bhupalapalli.
SP R. Bhaskaran said the drone cameras have been a tremendous success and have substantially improved surveillance. Currently, drone cameras are being tested in Bhupalapalli town and surroundings.
The cameras have a range of 1.5 km to 2.5 km and can hover over marked areas for about 90 minutes. A control room has been set up inside a police vehicle so that they can quickly reach the trouble spot detected by the drone camera. The department plans to procure more drones and conduct aerial patrol. The SP said, “We plan to divide Bhupalapalli into sectors and assign a camera to each area. They will be configured to automatically hover over an area during a preset time. The visuals will be transmitted to the control room.”
Meanwhile, the public is yet to get used to this hi-tech eye. The DSP added, “Recently, one of our cameras spotted a gambling group. When our team tried to get a closer look and directed the camera towards the group via the controls in the vehicle, the group noticed the camera and fled. Similarly, during a dharna, most of the protestors left as soon as the drones arrived fearing they would be identified.”
The DSP also said that apart from monitoring antisocial activities in Bhupalapalli town, the camera drones are a great help in keeping an eye on the irrigation projects being constructed in the Maoist areas in Telangana, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh.
Work on barrages has been in full swing at Medigadda on the Godavari river that runs along the borders of Telangana and Maharashtra. The areas where the Kaleshwaram project is being constructed are hotbeds of Maoist insurgency. Anticipating trouble from the Maoists the police has deployed a CRPF battalion consisting of 120 personnel at Tupakulagudem village, Ambatipally, near Medigadda barrage and Kannepalli. The police hopes the drones will be a help in these areas.
