After integrating into many sectors, drones are slowly buzzing their way into the law enforcement world. While thoughts of a police moving around with shoulder-based aerial “assistant drones” might sound farfetched, a police department in Bordeaux, France, has come up with a genuine real-time application to make the roads much safer with the use of drones.

In the trials, captain Pascal Gensous and his colleagues launched a drone in the skies above some of the busiest roads in the city. The pilot officer on the ground worked in coordination with a second officer who watched out for traffic offenders, some of which included dangerous overtaking and jumping street lights. Apart from providing a broader perspective from the sky, a drone is a conspicuous way of keeping an eye on dangerous drivers.

Using a drone to enforce traffic laws is very useful as it can allow officers to spot dangerous drivers on the road undetected. It’s also much cheaper compared to using a helicopter for surveillance. Once an offending driver has been spotted, the drone team signals the ground team to pull over the driver.

The Limitations of Drone Surveillance

It’s currently not possible to detect speeding drivers using drone surveillance, so officers will always need someone on the ground to use a radar gun.  Pierre Chasseray, one of the ‘Forty Million Drivers’ lobby group members notes that using drones to enforce traffic laws might just escalate the situation. He offers that drivers will now be taking eyes off the ground to look up for surveillance drones.

The U.K. has a 24-Hour Drone Unit

Clearly, the traffic law enforcers in France are not the only ones experimenting with drones. Police in Southwest, United Kingdom also recently set up the first 24-hour drone unit in the country. The unit uses powerful drones with thermal imaging cameras capable of zooming in on drivers or criminals in the act.

Apart from identifying traffic offenders, this unit has used drones to help in searching for missing persons, gathering crime scene images and monitoring woodland and coastal searches for wildlife crime. Drones have also been used to help police in monitoring and tracking suspects during terrorist and crimes. A drone can allow the police to safely and quickly collect vital information that can help them to respond more efficiently.

Overall, drones are increasingly becoming popular among emergency and law enforcement agencies in many other areas including the United States. Some law enforcement units have delayed the use in adopting drone technology due to safety and privacy concerns, but we can expect to see more of these remote-controlled observers in the law enforcement world in the near future.