Aerial surveillance systems in the form of camera fitted in a balloon and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with camera was inducted and a trial was held near the CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex on Saturday.
The trial was carried out in the presence of Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) K. Radhakrishnan, Inspector-General of Police (Intelligence) M.S. Jaffer Sait, City Police Commissioner C. Sylendra Babu, Inspector-General of Police – West Zone P. Sivanandi, DIG of Police P. Thamaraikannan and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) A.S. Nandakumar.
The balloon, which could go up to 1,000 ft, is fitted with a day and night surveillance camera and could capture images even at 360 degree angle and maintain surveillance at three to four km.
Similarly, an UAV weighing 2.5 kg glider-type operated with battery and remote which could maintain surveillance up to 15 km radius will form part of the aerial surveillance systems.
These gadgets have been sourced from Arora, a Bangalore-based firm. This is the first time that such sophisticated surveillance systems are being adopted in Tamil Nadu, police officials said.
Trial run
Talking to reporters, Mr. Radhakrishnan said that all security arrangements were in place for the World Classical Tamil Conference. A security trial run would be carried out on June 19 to identify areas for improvement, including traffic management.
Earlier in the day, the City Police Commissioner held a meeting with eight DIGs, 33 SPs, 30 ADSPs and 87 DSPs from other districts, who will be involved in security arrangements and briefed them on their individual responsibility and task assigned to them in addition to place of stay and parking lots.
In the evening, Mr. Radhakrishnan had a meeting with all the officers in the rank of SP and above and explained to them the nature of work involved, the bandobust plan, crowd control and traffic management systems planned during the conference.
The officers were also briefed on guiding Coimbatore people to airport on June 23 via Tiruchi Road when the procession of floats would wind its way from VOC Park to CODISSIA.
