Latest news with #DFRs
NZ Herald
04-08-2025
- NZ Herald
Police tout first-responder drone tech as lifesaving for officers and community members
'When you have a camera in the sky that can see things that police officers can't normally see, that offers a huge potential for privacy invasion,' said Beryl Lipton, a senior researcher with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group. DFRs serve as an eye in the sky, police say, streaming footage to officers before they enter a potentially dangerous situation. One of the hardest aspects of policing is that in calls for service, 'we don't have crystal balls, we don't know what we're going into', said Roxana Kennedy, chief of the police department in Chula Vista, California. There is no public list of law enforcement agencies that have adopted the programmes, and grey areas around what constitutes a DFR versus a different kind of drone programme makes creating a definitive count difficult. Around 50 agencies launched DFR programmes between 2018 and 2024, said Charles Werner, a retired Charlottesville fire chief who founded DroneResponders, an advocacy group that promotes responsible drone use. The technology is gaining ground fast: 'A handful of departments per week' are adopting it, said Divy Shrivastava, chief executive of Paladin Drones, a DFR manufacturer. The FAA has approved waivers for at least 300 agencies to adopt drone first responder programmes so far this year, according to Werner, who said he meets regularly with representatives of the federal regulatory agency. 'The FAA made the review process faster by removing duplicate steps and giving first responders updated guidance on how to submit waiver requests,' an FAA spokesperson said in an unsigned statement to the Washington Post. Captain John English, who leads the DFR programme for the Chula Vista Police Department, called the drones the 'single greatest integrated piece of technology' for policing. His agency became the nation's first adopter of the programme in 2018. DFRs are different from the tactical drones long used in policing, drone experts said. Unlike some earlier drones, DFRs can be launched from docks positioned around a city and controlled from inside police stations. They don't need to be within an officer's line of sight, which is why they require a special waiver from the FAA as part of a regulatory process meant to prevent collisions and other hazards. The drones can arrive on the scene of emergencies far faster than squad cars, police chiefs told the Washington Post. Kennedy's department, Chula Vista, said its drones' average response time is under two minutes, consistently outpacing patrol units. In Redmond, Washington, drones arrive to the scene before an officer about 75% of the time they are deployed, according to municipal data. In Elk Grove, California, that rate is 70%. The incident that 'changed everything' for Kennedy, she said, was when a drone responded in 2019 to a call about a man who appeared to be erratically waving a gun. Before officers arrived, the drone footage showed the object was not a gun, but a cigarette lighter. 'It could have ended up in a shooting,' Kennedy said. Police officials whose departments have adopted DFRs said the programmes are invaluable. In May, a drone in Redmond helped locate a missing diabetic elderly man. Officers on foot had searched the area where he was ultimately found but couldn't see or hear him, said Darrell Lowe, the city's police chief. Lieutenant Romy Mutuc, who heads the new DFR programme in Laredo, Texas, said his department has equipped its drones with Narcan - a nasal spray that can treat narcotic overdoses. In an overdose scenario, Mutuc said, an officer could drop a dose onto the scene and talk a bystander through the process of applying it through the drone's loudspeaker. DFRs are also widely deployed for low-priority calls, like about a suspicious person walking near private property. Sometimes the drones help police realise it's unnecessary to send an officer to the scene in-person. In nearly 20% of incidents where the Chula Vista department has deployed a DFR, the agency has cancelled officer response after the drone's arrival, according to English. But there are concerns among critics, who say drone first responders can encourage police intrusion in places they couldn't normally view. 'Drones and aerial cameras could be used to surveil political protests, and it could even be deployed for other purposes to see who is seeking healthcare in California from another state or used to track who's coming and going at an immigration courthouse,' said Jacob Snow, a technology and civil liberties lawyer at the ACLU of Northern California. 'So the idea that we should all be assured that law enforcement is just saying, 'Don't worry, it's only for a narrow purpose' flies in the face of what's happened historically.' In Chula Vista, a lawsuit filed by a local newspaper publisher seeks to force the police department to release the drone video footage collected in one month of 2021. The publisher, Art Castanares, is concerned that police could be infringing on people's privacy, said Cory Briggs, his lawyer. Privacy advocates say police departments may promise to use the DFRs only to respond to calls for service or certain kinds of emergencies, but once the technology is out of the bottle, it will be hard to put it back in. Drone industry representatives and cities that have adopted DFR programmes have offered assurances that they have implemented guardrails to address privacy concerns. Some departments said they keep the cameras pointed towards the horizon while en route to an incident. Some don't turn on the camera's recording function until the drone arrives at its destination, said Werner. And agencies said they aim to be transparent about the technology's use, including through public dashboards that log flight maps. Skydio, a DFR manufacturer, works with agencies to help develop policies surrounding drone use, 'and more importantly, how they do not intend on using drones', said Noreen Charlton, the senior manager of public safety marketing at the firm. In Redmond, the city's policy 'prohibits the department from using drones for general surveillance, harassing or discriminating against individuals or groups, or conducting personal business'. Those concerned about excessive surveillance remain sceptical. Lipton, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said she hopes there are 'consequences for when there is abuse or misuse' of DFRs. Part of that, she said, could involve 'annual reviews by the city council and public meetings to discuss what reasons the surveillance tools were used for and whether there were any violations'. In the same vein, independent oversight bodies and local government could help assuage some of the concerns by imposing strict limits on the programmes, said Jay Stanley, a privacy and technology policy analyst at the ACLU. 'This is really a brand-new technologyand the jury is still out on it.'
Mint
26-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Six more locations for monster reserves to stock up crude oil for India
India is doubling down to build new strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) at six proposed locations in the quest for energy security in a volatile world, two people aware of the development said. Emergency oil reserves that are stocked up while prices are low and released at times of exigencies are crucial for the world's third-largest energy consumer, which imports 85% of its crude requirements. The government has asked state-run Engineers India Ltd (EIL) to make detailed feasibility reports (DFRs) to build such new reserves at six locations, two people aware of the development said. Of these, one is proposed to be at the Mangalore Special Economic Zone in Karnataka and the other at salt caverns in Rajasthan's Bikaner. State-owned EIL, an engineering and consultancy firm focusing on the energy sector, is expected to submit its reports by the end of the year. 'EIL is doing DFR in six locations, which are close to the coast and refineries; including in Mangalore SEZ, and also salt caverns in Bikaner for strategic purposes. They haven't finalized it, with the study expected to be completed by the end of this year. The plan is to take India's reserve capacity to 90 days. That's the basic requirement," said one of the two people cited above requesting anonymity. Vital reserves During the West Asia conflict, Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in its territorial waters, through which a fifth of the world's oil cargoes pass. With India consuming 5.5 million barrels of crude oil per day (mbpd), the threat turned the spotlight on 1.5-2 mbpd oil that heads for India through this vital choke point, highlighting the need for an effective SPR programme. 'The information sought is confidential in nature, considering present environment," ISPRL's chief executive officer and managing director L.R. Jain said in an emailed reply to a query. An EIL spokesperson in an emailed response said, 'Above Information is correct to our knowledge. Please note that as part of Phase 1, a capacity of 5.33 mmt of capacity was added."'Feasibility is under advance stage of finalization," the EIL spokesperson added. Queries sent to a spokesperson of India's petroleum and natural gas ministry on late Tuesday remained unanswered. Conflict concerns SPRs are built underground in strategically chosen locations, often near refineries and ports, like rock caverns or salt caverns. India has been stocking up oil ever since opening its first SPR in Visakhapatanam a decade ago; however, the latest push comes against the backdrop of a 10-day conflict in West Asia, home to some of the world's biggest oil fields, exposing vulnerabilities on the energy front. Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL), a state-run company, has built reserves totalling 5.33 million metric tonne (mmt) at Vishakhapatnam (1.33 mmt), Mangaluru (1.5 mmt) and Padur (2.5 mmt). The UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) has partnered with India's strategic crude oil reserve programme, leasing capacity from the reserves. The government is also looking to secure participation from more global energy majors. In the second phase, SPRs of 6.5 mmt are planned in a public-private partnership mode, at Chandikhol in Odisha (4 mmt) and Padur in Karnataka (2.5 mmt). The six new locations being explored will be in addition to these. India currently has emergency reserves of crude oil and petroleum products equivalent to 77 days of net imports. This includes the capacity at SPRs, as well as the stocks maintained by state-run oil companies. For comparison, member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) maintain emergency stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net imports. This assumes significance for India given its dependence on imported crude, and the fact that oil comprises about 30% of its total imports. In such a scenario, volatility and higher prices impact the country's trade deficit, current deficit and eventually, economic growth. Filling supply gaps India's current SPR capacity of 5.3 million tonnes is enough to meet just 9.5 days of its oil needs. According to data from the standing committee report on petroleum and natural gas submitted to the parliament in December 2024, 3.6 million tonne capacity was filled till October 2024. Crude oil approached nearly $80 per barrel as the Israel-Iran conflict broke out, before easing on Tuesday after the rivals reached a ceasefire. At the time of writing, the August contract of Brent on the Intercontinental Exchange was trading at $67.74 per barrel, higher by 0.92% from its previous close. Similarly, the August contract of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on the NYMEX rose 0.87% to 64.93 per barrel. Prashant Vasisht, senior vice-president and co-group head, corporate rating at Icra Ltd said: "Given that India does not have a significant domestic production so far, having strategic reserves for emergency situations is important. Because, a geopolitical crisis may stretch from a few days to months, and India needs to ensure that any supply gap can be immediately filled to meet the demand for that period." He added that even considering energy transition, India's demand for petroleum products like petrol and diesel will continue to grow for at least the next 15 years. "So, the expansion of strategic reserve capacity is critical for India," Vasisht added. Amit Kumar, Partner and Leader, Energy & Renewables at Grant Thornton Bharat said, "India needs to increase its strategic reserves significantly to reach the targeted 90 days of storage, and to ensure that in case of a crisis, the reserves can be used. However, these reserves come with huge investment requirements, and the government may also look at getting in global players, which would help in hedging their investments." Expenditure According to industry estimates, building reserves of 1 mt requires capital expenditure of ₹2,500 crore. In November 2021, India agreed to release 5 million barrels from its reserves to cool global crude oil prices, in coordination with other major oil consumers including the US, China, Japan and South Korea. Also, India bought oil at $19 a barrel in 2020 to fill its reserves, and in the process, saved $685.11 million. 'Government and OMCs (oil marketing companies) evaluate, from time to time, the possibility of augmentation of storage capacities based on technical and commercial feasibility. Assessment of new sites for establishing additional petroleum reserves is a continuous process," minister of state (MoS) in petroleum and natural gas ministry Suresh Gopi informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply on 20 March, according to a government statement. India imports around 244 million tonnes of crude oil annually, accounting for over 85% of its total crude oil requirement. It has the option to source crude oil from 39 countries. In the backdrop of the West Asia crisis, New Delhi evolved an oil sourcing strategy that involves bypassing the Strait of Hormuz via two pipelines; tapping into the global reserves of Adnoc and Saudi Aramco; and significantly increasing imports from the US, as reported by Mint earlier. The two pipelines, which run east to west across the Arabian peninsula, was planned to be tapped if Iran closes the Strait. The first is Adnoc-operated 360-km Habshan-Fujairah strategic oil pipeline with a 1.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) capacity that opens to the Gulf of Oman; and the Saudi Aramco-operated 1,200-km East-West crude oil pipeline with a 5 mbpd capacity that offers access to the Red Sea.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The NYPD Is Sending Drones to the Sites of 9-1-1 Calls
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is now sending drones out on 9-1-1 calls to do the business that their Candy Crush-addicted human officers are too busy to tackle — and surveilling everyone in sight while they do it. As the cybersecurity news site The Record reports, these "drones as first responders" — or DFRs, as the NYPD calls them — can fly up to 45 miles per hour, filming everything on the block with telephoto cameras that can, per manufacturer Skydio, identify faces and license plates from nearly a mile away. Launched last year as part of embattled mayor Eric Adams' quest to shove technology into everything regardless of public opinion, these drones were initially only going to respond to "select priority public safety calls," according to a press release issued last November that formally announced the program. As The Record notes, however, the NYPD's definition of "select priority" seems awfully vague — and it doesn't actually report how many drones are deployed on police calls, either. Prior to the program's official launch, the department revealed that they planned to use drones to monitor house parties that receive noise complaints over Labor Day Weekend in 2023, which also coincides with J'Ouvert festivities that take place in New York's Caribbean communities. In fact, that festival was cited specifically by a former NYPD commissioner who called the drones a "wonderful thing." If shelling out for party-surveilling drones seems to you like a misuse of taxpayer funds, you're not alone. In an interview with The Guardian in 2023, a senior strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union called the NYPD's drone usage "dystopian" and a form of "racialized discrimination." Now that their use has been expanded to do more than just allowing cops to be remote spectators at peoples' backyard parties, those epithets feel prescient. Because the US Supreme Court has ruled that law enforcement can legally surveil anyone's outdoor property without a warrant via drone, the NYPD has followed suit. Per NYPD policy, drones aren't allowed to operate inside a property warrantless, but outside doesn't count, basically. As constitutional rights lawyer Sidney Thaxter told The Record, that means the NYPD could film someone in their backyard — and because the department's Skydio drones are equipped with telephoto lenses, they could do so from a high enough altitude that anyone who wasn't looking at the sky wouldn't notice the lurking aircraft. "They can set a drone up in the air far enough away that you can't hear it," Thaxter said, "and they can zoom in and can literally see what's in your hands." While we don't know exactly how often the NYPD is using their drones, the department has already bragged about deploying them to help them surveil protests and the people demonstrating at them in recent years. After protests erupted across the city in response to the conflict in Gaza, police boasted to the press that they'd used drones 13 times to make a whopping 239 arrests — all in a single week, and all in Brooklyn. "We got the whole thing on video," assistant NYPD commissioner Kaz Daughtry said, referring to pro-Palestinian protesters who were caught on video throwing eggs and bottles at cops during an October 2021 demonstration in South Brooklyn. "We'll be turning that evidence over to the Brooklyn DA's office to help enhance the arrests." Amid a larger culture of crackdowns on freedom of speech in New York and around the country, this kind of drone use does indeed feel dystopian — or, as Albert Fox Cahn of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project put it to The Record, as if the NYPD was treating "Black Mirror" as an "instruction manual." More on NYPD tech: AI Completely Failed to Catch CEO Killer, With Cops Instead Relying on Random McDonald's Employee
