Hyderabad police airs tender for at least 7 camera-equipped drones

What’s the news: Hyderabad police will soon be training its officers to pilot seven or more camera-equipped drones for its jurisdiction as per a tender uploaded by the city police.

Why it matters: Already Hyderabad is known for its surveillance issues that are at odds with people’s data rights. However, drone surveillance in such an everyday manner infringes on people’s privacy. Wherever possible, MediaNama has asked authority figures the rationale in using such intrusive technology when less invasive alternatives are available. Yet we see that our queries regarding data collection, storage, affected person’s consent and the implications of such practices in light of the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 remain unanswered. As such the use of drones despite a prevalent CCTV network, we’re seeing a growing penchant among law enforcement agencies across India to use more invasive equipment – raising concerns of a ‘surveillance state.’

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Drone to have monitoring technology: As per the tender, Hyderabad police will be using at least seven drones with thermal cameras, day-and-night cameras and two megaphones that will livestream its recorded content to police authorities. The drone may also have a feature to receive voice instructions which should be audible on the ground. While the 16-page tender does not mention the intention of the drone acquisition, it does mention that police can ask for more drones at the same price over the next two years.

Officers to be train for flying drones: Officials/ staff of the city police will receive training and certifications for the drones as prescribed by DGCA/CAA. Overall, there will be five teams with two drone-pilots in reach team.

Little explanation on data storage: While the tender talks about the drone cameras gathering live footage and telemetry data as well as the location of the at the time of use, it does not specify for how long the police will store the data. It simply says that such data should be transferred to the Command and Control Centre on a real-time basis.