Marseille Police chief Jen-Paul Bonnetain is pushing the idea of using drone based aerial surveillance to aid law enforcement and police investigations. The idea is strongly supported by socialist politician Eugène Castelli, who is ready to propose investments for millions of euros in the project.
Will Marseille become a test ground for a wider aerial surveillance program in France? Are we entering a science fiction era in which multicopters and personal, or less personal drones will be part of our everyday life?
We recently reported about the story in which a phantom quadcopter was flown over manhattan, went out of control and landed at the feets of a worried businessman, who handled the little personal drone, with camera and sd card, to the police and ABC News. This is the original story from ABC news:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J71QG1WqWw
These is an important update on this story as 34 years old Brooklin musician David Zablidowsky was arrested for reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor, for “flying a remote control helicopter off a balcony, losing control, causing it to crash to the ground from an unreasonable height creating a substantial risk of serious physical injury.”
David Zablidowsky self portrait from the footage of the camera on his phantom quadcopter
This puts flying a personal drone over a populated area in a different perspective for people with this hobby. At the time, police said that “no laws were broken” and it looked like they were not going to pursue the investigations further. Eventually, somebody understood that the phenomena of personal rc drones will probably grow exponentially in the next years and something had to be done to “send the right message”.
And here’s a report on another quadcopter out of control, that ended up colliding with the Sidney Harbour Bridge. It was found near to one of the pilons of the bridge. No information has been released on the specific model, however a GoPro attached is mentioned. The police is investigating the footage on the sd video card.
“At this stage police don’t believe that the quad-copter is suspicious”
Good to know the quadcopter is not “suspicious”, looks like by default a quadcopter could indeed be suspicious. This is an interesting observation. In people’s mind quadcopters are related to drones, and drones are for surveillance, hence the suspiciousness I would guess.
Update: “Counter-terrorism officers monitor police and aviation authority search for owner of quadcopter found near pylon. The authority is downloading data from the drone’s control system to try to find its owner”. Read the story
A quest toward the perfect quadcopter or multirotor for aerial video and personal flying freedom and a permanent survey on the latest quadcopter news and multirotor news
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptPrivacy and Cookies Policy
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
