Police use drone to spy on V Festival (Guardian, 21 August 2007)

Police use drone to spy on V Festival (Guardian, 21 August 2007)
Police used a remote-controlled spy drone to watch crowds at the V Festival, first time the technology has been used at a major public event.
70cm-wide flying surveillance device, fitted with high-res still an color video cameras, and infrared night vision capability, was used to keep tabs on people and gather intelligence.
The battery-operated drone’s four carbon-fibre rotors are so quiet they cannot be heard from the ground once it is higher than 50 metres, and at 100 metres it cannot be seen with the naked eye. It can fly 500 metres high. The vehicle, which takes off vertically, can be flown even when out of sight, because it beams images back to video goggles worn by the operator.

Use drones:
- Fire Dept – aerial view of buildings on fire for safest way to proceed
- The Olympics
- Firearm officers want to use in stand-offs with armed criminals.

MW Power, the company that distributes the technology in the UK, plans to improve the drone’s capability by adding a so-called ‘smart water’ spray – a liquid infused with chemicals that give each batch of the liquid a unique identity. It infuses one’s clothes and skin and could later be used to identify them.

No legal barrier preventing a private security firm or a paparazzo photographer from using the technology, but MW power said that it was only licensing the vehicle to customers from the military or emergency services. It costs less than 1k a month to lease.

Noel Sharkey – expert in robotics at University of Sheffield – worried about increasing use of robotic vehicles in military conflicts and policing.