Private drones banned from Commonwealth Games’ vicinity

FLYING a drone during the Commonwealth Games will be a criminal offence across a huge swathe of the West Midlands, police have warned.

West Midlands Police is to enforce a no-fly zone in areas near the event due to what they called: the “emerging threat from drones”.

More than 3,000 officers will manage the games’ security in late July and early August. The operation will be the biggest conducted by the force as fans from 72 nations descend on Birmingham to support more than 6,000 sportsmen and women.

Specially trained officers will use drones to monitor proceedings but a strict ban will be imposed on flying privately owned devices.

Insp Dan Lowe told the BBC the ban had been put in place due to “an emerging threat from drones” that had “played out most recently at football grounds” and other sporting events”.

“That will not happen and can’t happen during the games, because of [the] … risk. So across the West Midlands region and, particularly, within Birmingham, there’s a no-fly zone.”

Police have applied to the Civil Aviation Authority to impose a restricted air space cordon over the venues. A geofence, a radio frequency perimeter that knocks out communications of private drones, will be set up to enforce it.

Meanwhile, officers will use equipment that can detect, track and identify drones that dodge the geofence and get inside the controlled airspace. Similar technology has been used at other major UK sporting events.

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said: “Airspace restrictions covering aircraft and drones are often put in place at the request of the police. Normally these are focused around the venue but can be larger for significant events.”

Drones are potential terrorist threats but can also be used to film or broadcast events, which could be in breach of media rights.