Agartala, Jul 12, 2022, TRIPURATIMES Desk

Agartala, July 12: A two-day workshop on Drone Surveillance and Drone Forensics will commence at Tripura Police Training Academy on Tuesday. KTD Singh Police Training Academy and State Forensic Science Laboratory are jointly organizing the workshop and it will continue till Wednesday.

A good number of police officers and forensic experts will participate in the workshop. Gourab Chakraborty will inaugurate the workshop in the presence of Dilip Ray, Principal PTA and Dr. H.K Pratihari, Director SFSL.

Experts from Nextechno Gen Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi and D-Town Robotics Pvt. Ltd. Noida will join the workshop as resource persons.

A drone demonstration session will be held at TSR Training Centre, R.K Nagar on Tuesday (from 02.15 PM to 04.30 PM). The remaining sessions of the workshop will be held at Police Training Academy, Narsingarh.

Importance of Drone Surveillance and Drone Forensics:

A drone is a flying robot that can be remotely controlled or fly autonomously using software-controlled flight plans in its embedded system, that work in conjunction with onboard sensors and a global positioning system (GPS). An unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board.

Drones have been increasingly adopted to address several critical challenges faced by humanity to provide support and convenience. Drones are readily available for deployment in hard to access locations for delivery of critical medical supplies, for surveillance, for weather data collection and for home delivery of purchased goods. Drones are increasingly beneficial to civilians, they have also been used to carry out crimes.

Drones or UAVs are getting more popular and accessible with consumers which makes it easier for criminals to take advantage of the technology for nefarious reasons. Drones have been used for a range of crimes from smuggling, spying/stalking, criminal damage, and even theft of card details from ATM's. With drones being adaptable and so varied, it makes the job of law enforcement even harder as they must tackle newly emerging crimes and disruptions, possibly without the necessary legislation in place for guidance. The misuse of drones poses threats to public safety, organizations, and national security due to such incidents where drones have been flown in no-fly zones.

Such threats are reasons why drone forensic programs are essential in aiding the understanding of drone technology and in reducing the crime rate, especially when successful in gathering evidence for a case. However, even with the benefits a drone forensics program will bring to law enforcement agencies, this is still an area that remains relatively unexplored. Drone crime can vary in threat levels, and there needs to be a more precise understanding by the public as well as law enforcement about these threats posed by drones, as drone crime is 'only limited by the imagination of the criminal'.