US, European Cities Turn to “Talking Drones” From China to Enforce Social Distancing
“STOP gathering, disperse and go home.”
(TMU) — As an increasing amount of cities and states across the world clamp down on citizen movement due to the coronavirus, officials have been deploying drones in a bid to scare some sense into social distancing scofflaws.
The trend has seen dozens of law enforcement agencies and municipalities flock to one drone manufacturer based in China to help enforce quarantine rules while cutting costs on traditional public safety services.
One of the latest cities to enlist drones into its arsenal is Daytona Beach, Florida, which now has eight of the flying tools, including two loaned by Shenzhen, China-based drone manufacturer DJI Technology.
Over the past week, the Daytona Beach Police Department has flown upwards of 30 missions to enforce the statewide stay-at-home order in the city’s beachfront parks and on hiking trails. For police management, the use of drones is a common-sense solution to the problem of dissuading law-breakers while maintaining a safe distance amid the ongoing pandemic.
Sgt. Tim Ehrenkaufer, the head of DBPD’s Unmanned Aviation Systems Unit, told WKMG:
“We’re reducing the officer having to go out there, walk into the park property, walking into a crowd of people, share those germs back and forth just to deliver a message that, ‘The park’s closed. Don’t be in here.’”
The drone also has a FLIR thermal camera that can read people’s body temperatures, allowing police to single out those potentially infected by CoViD-19—a tool that Ehrenkaufer says will help officers know from a glance what precautions should be taken.
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