The sensational news that has emerged out now is that the Greater Chennai Police would have an exclusive drone police unit that would cost an amount of Rs 3.6 crores. The surprising piece of information is that this is the very first time and previously no police department in the entire India had a drone unit.
It was brought out by a GO that the unit would have 3 types of drones namely a quick response special payload zone, long range surveillance zone and lifeguard zone.
It is learnt that the unit would have 2 components namely drones and a well furnished container office with high rise platform with drone take off and landing pad with glass walls on all the sides.
There would also be automatic roofs, control units, monitors, power backups, furniture, landscaping systems, high- end servers, connectivity etc. It is revealed that the office would be a temporary structure fabricated using container cabins with a ground floor to be used as a control room. Drones would be operated from the upper deck.
An amount of Rs 3 crores would be used to purchase 9 drones (6 quick response drones, 2 long range surveillance zones and one life guard zone. Point is that remaining Rs 60 lakhs would be spent for the office. These drones would be used over Marina Beach or Elliots Beach or Pondy Bazaar etc in the initial stages. This was according to the police department.
The important piece of information is that the quick response special payload drone would be a multi rotor capable of inter-changeable payloads. The HD camera present with thermal or night vision would be superb. Live stream video would be possible and there would be 100gm speakers for public announcements. It must be noted that the long range surveillance zone is a hybrid zone of quadcopter and wing plane.