The city of Cape Town is wanting to fight crime with drones becoming the first city in South Africa to use this type of technology. Mayoral committee member JP Smith has put forward a plan to implement drones into the cities police force to help fight crime.
The plan to use drones to help prevent crime will allow for the Cape Town police to look over known crime spots at the same time, allowing more units to get to an area rather than patrolling the area by car. Committee member JP Smith states that Cape Town would be the first city to be using drone technology to help prevent crime.
“To our knowledge, there are no other municipalities in the country that are using drones or investigating the use of drones. Cape Town would be one of the first municipalities to undertake such an initiative.” – JP Smith
Cape Town has already invested over R500,000 (~$33682) on drones with the hope to implement them in police activity shortly after the Civil Aviation Authority has given the go-ahead. The CAA state that the drones will be used in crowd control, anti-poaching, aerial surveillance, research, journalism, filming, and drone deliveries. All of this is on hold until the CAA gives the go-ahead of the drone operations. CAA spokesperson Kabelo Ledwaba said that there are regulations that are needed to be followed and that if they are not jail time of up to 10 years or a fine of R50,000 (~$3368) would be issued to the pilot.
“Applying these simple but critical airman-ship principles will ensure that they do not compromise the safety of citizens, other aircraft or property. Failure to adhere to civil aviation regulations could result in a 10-year prison sentence or a fine of R50 000.” – Kabelo Ledwaba
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