Police testing surveillance drones in Oslo

26.10.13

Norway 

In recent months the police in Oslo and the neighbouring police district Follo have been testing small, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with cameras, known more commonly as drones.

On 1 September this year people outside the Oslo City Hall saw a drone, controlled remotely by a police officer, circling over this widely-used public recreation area. This is one of a number of sightings of the police honing their drone piloting skills in public areas in which there is no situation that would make use of the technology necessary.

The Oslo police have just one helicopter, and there have been reports of frustration within the force that its use during events such as political demonstrations and visits of foreign leaders has prevented it being used for other purposes.

After criticism of the police response to Anders Behring Breivik's terror attacks on 22 July 2011, the government was pressed to rent another helicopter from England. On politiforum.no, the Norweigan police union's magazine, a number of frustrated police officers have aired criticisms of the capabilities of helicopters, and the magazine has written positively about drone tests.

Now it seems that there is a hope that drones can take over in situations where mass surveillance is deemed necessary, freeing the helicopter up and saving money at the same time.

A new police helicopter costs the equivalent of about two million pounds, while the surveillance drones used by the police cost about 30,000 pounds each. It is numbers like this that may lead Norwegian lawmakers to discard the tradition of strict legal protections against public surveillance.

The drone that has been tested by the Oslo and Follo police so far is the quad-rotor Huginn x1, produced by Danish firm Sky Watch. It weighs less than a kilogram without any additional sensors mounted, is 50 centimetres in diameter, can fly for up to 25 minutes on one battery and reach an altitude of 150 metres.

Norwegian privacy laws are clear that CCTV and other forms of technical surveillance equipment should be officially registered and the spaces in which they are used marked with signs, but the law is seldom enforced. [1]

FULL STORY: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/oct/drones-police-oslo1.htm