Drones to keep people safe on city nights out?
NOTTS FIRM HOPING TO LAUNCH SECURITY SERVICE OVER CITY
A NOTTINGHAMSHIRE company wants to use drones to keep people safe on nights out in the city.
Drone Defence, from Ordsall, Retford, says it is preparing a bid to the Home Office for drones to be deployed across the UK.
The firm said the drones would cost £35,000 and that its Aeroguard scheme could even be trialled at the University of Nottingham.
The university confirms talks have begun on the possible use of the drones.
However, talks are still at extremely early stages – and they may not be used in conjunction with the university at all.
The drones would be deployed to incidents via a mobile phone app and arrive within minutes, says the company.
Company founder Richard Gill said drones could ultimately take over up to 80 percent of the functions currently performed by police helicopters.
He said: “Aeroguard addresses a variety of situations and problems including the security of vulnerable people at night.
“I think it is important to highlight that Aeroguard is not about surveillance. The emergency drone can only be deployed, once summoned by the click of a mobile phone app. Only then will the Aeroguard drone fly to the location of a genuine emergency scenario.
“An Aeroguard drone could be on the scene considerably faster than the police and at a much cheaper cost. In these emergency situations, Aeroguard could save lives, as well as providing video footage for the purpose of investigations and prosecutions.” The Aeroguard drones would use AI technology and be fitted with thermal cameras and a spotlight.
In a statement, the company said: “We have launched an automated emergency drone response initiative called Aeroguard, which will be officially submitted to Government for funding.
“Aeroguard has been proposed in an attempt to provide an automated drone response to a variety of emergency scenarios such as a first responder to a fire, security firm backup or to dissuade ‘would-be’ attackers and provide reassurance to members of the public on our streets.
“According to statistics, one in five women don’t ever walk alone at night – an astonishing figure.
“The plan involves placing an automated drone across local towns and cities in the UK, which could then be called to an incident by a mobile phone app. We have the technology which would safely deploy a drone with a thermal camera over a situation or vulnerable person within minutes of being called.
“This drone would then floodlight and record the scene, stream the footage to a control room and even act as a deterrent to an opportunist attacker.
“The current average response time of a 999 police call is 15 minutes. Aeroguard aims to have a drone at the scene of the incident in under four minutes. These additional 11 minutes waiting for the police could prove critical, at a time when minutes matter.
“The cost difference is also considerable, having been benchmarked against police helicopters – an Aeroguard drone would cost around £100 per hour, where in comparison, an NPAS helicopter would cost £3,200 per hour.
“As part of the project, we propose to start trials in Nottingham, alongside our academic partnership with the University of Nottingham, which will see us deploy an Aeroguard prototype in the city.”
The emergency drone can only be deployed once summoned by the click of a mobile phone app
Richard Gill