Drones operated by policemen are proving a useful tool during the MCO. – Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): The message came from the sky, almost like a voice from the heavens.
It was loud and clear: “Don’t stand so close together, we need to flatten the curve.”
Flattening the curve refers to community isolation measures that keep the daily number of new Covid-19 cases down.
The voice came from someone some distance away and the messenger was an unmanned aerial vehicle, or simply known as a drone.
Drones are now being used during the movement control order (MCO) period to aid the police and the army to conduct aerial surveillance and monitor the movement of people.
The police and military have partnered with the Aerodyne Group, which offered assistance after a request from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
Aerodyne Group founder and CEO Kamarulazman Muhamed said the MCO had affected the company operations, leaving its drone-operating teams with little to do.
"We have many teams that are idle right now. We have the available resources. The police have a limited number of teams. It was a perfect match. So, straightaway I offered our capabilities,” he told Bernama.
Twenty-six Aerodyne teams are working with the police and military, along with the drones provided by three other companies.
Each team consists of five people and two drones. Currently, 92 teams are operating all over the country, according to a police officer involved in the drone operations.
Furthermore, amateur and professional drone pilots around Malaysia are on standby, ready to deploy more drones to assist the government with surveillance on a voluntarily basis.
The objective is crowd control, ensuring compliance with the MCO and providing information of the situation on the ground to the government.
Using proprietary tracking software, teams can predict which areas are likely to have crowds. They then use the drones to disseminate information to the people and if necessary, caution them.
"We help by telling them what to do, what not to do; that they should not go out, but stay indoors.
“That’s how we help. It also reduces (the chance of) exposure of authorities,” said Kamarulazman.
Several people interviewed agreed with the use of drones but said that these should not be flying around after the MCO is lifted.
Neelaveni Neela, a nurse at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur, said that as a frontliner, she wanted people to stay home to reduce their risk of being exposed to the coronavirus.
"(Using drones) depends on the timing. It’s good now to take care of the people and Malaysia,” she said, but added that such methods of public surveillance should end once the threat of the pandemic is no more.
Kamarulazman acknowledged the people’s concern over the loss of privacy and agreed that the drones should stop tracking the movement of the people post-MCO.
"The intention (right now) is just to look at compliance with the MCO but there is no denying that drones would be useful as well to maintain general law and order,” he said.
Even without government involvement, there may be eyes in the sky keeping track of people. During the current MCO, hobbyists are officially on standby in case the government needs their services. In the meantime, they are policing their own communities and reporting violators.
Wan Hasyidan Wan Hussein, a technical lecturer at the Industrial Training Institute (ILP) in Mersing, Johor, said the police have received tip-offs on MCO violators from bored drone enthusiasts monitoring their neighbourhoods independently.
He said there was an instance where police received information from someone operating a drone who saw some people playing outside.
“He reported the matter to the police who arrived immediately to arrest the violators,” he said.
Kamarulazman said constant surveillance – either by the state, corporations or other people – is now the reality.
"Being watched, I think, becomes part and parcel of the evolution of technology,” he said, adding that everyone’s lives are now connected at unparalleled levels.
"This connectivity allows us and society to evolve, to be more advanced, (and) it does come with the threat of the abuse of all this information.
"All we need to do then is to address the cybersecurity aspect of it, to make sure that privacy is protected,” he said. – Bernama
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