Latest news with #dronepatrol
South China Morning Post
06-06-2025
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong police launch first drone patrols in urban areas
Hong Kong police have launched their first drone patrols in urban settings, with the unmanned aerial vehicles able to inspect an area the size of 13 football pitches in 25 minutes. The force on Friday deployed a drone to cover a 96,000 square metre area around Yau Ma Tei and Jordan in Kowloon. Carlos Shum Lap-chi, operations officer in Yau Tsim police district, said the patrol area bordered Dundas Street, Nathan Road and a section of Waterloo Road in Yau Ma Tei, as well as Ferry Street in Jordan. 'Our drone patrols can perform a few more rounds than [equivalent] ground patrols. The effectiveness is significant,' Shum said. The patrol followed the launch of a three-month pilot scheme for drones to inspect the border and Kowloon West late last month. As part of the pilot scheme, drone patrols in Yau Tsim, which covers Yau Ma Tei, Jordan and Tsim Sha Tsui, would first focus on crime hotspots, Shum said.
South China Morning Post
21-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Police to launch drone patrols in Hong Kong urban areas on Friday
Police will launch drone patrols in the force's Kowloon West region and Hong Kong's northern border area on Friday, with 700 officers and about 30 sets of unmanned aircraft ready to be deployed. Superintendent Tango Ko Chung-ying of the force's key points and search division said patrols would be rolled out under a pilot scheme for three months to evaluate operations. He added that the force aimed to conduct automatic drone patrols on The Peak and Cheung Chau by the end of this year at the earliest. 'In the long run, we hope to equip each police district with its own automatic drone patrol system to regularise drone use in policing,' Ko said. The move confirms an earlier Post report that the force will introduce anti-burglary drone patrols in urban areas, targeting older districts with tenement buildings that may require scaffolding for repairs. Drone patrols will be rolled out under a pilot scheme for three months, police say. Photo: Sun Yeung Chief Inspector Vincent Law Hoi-ming said that the drone patrol pilot scheme would mark a shift from the force's current operations-based approach, in which such aircraft had been used in ad hoc mountain rescue operations, evidence collection, training and aerial surveys for crowd control.
