To monitor densely populated neighbourhoods amid the coronavirus pandemic, Mumbai Police is deploying artificial intelligence and drone technology. Through the technology, Mumbai will ensure social distancing is strictly enforced to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in these areas.
The police gave a demonstration of how the technology works to State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in Worli on Tuesday. During the demonstration, Joint Commissioner of Police Vinay Choubey was also present.
Deshmukh said that the drones will help the police's reach in dense pockets of the city and become their eyes in the sky. He also added that the technology will allow police to address people and instruct them to disperse in case there is crowding.
“The Maharashtra government is also doing its best to keep both citizens and police personnel safe. The deployment of drones is part of that endeavour,” Deshmukh added.
More importantly, the drones will prevent the exposure of the police personnel if it is a contaminated area.
On Tuesday, a huge crowd of migrant labourers had gathered near Bandra railway station before the authorities could react. The incident has raised questions over the authorities' handling of the crisis and has put hundreds at risk if not thousands of being infected by the virus. The technology will be useful in future to control and disperse such crowds in future.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already taken a toll on police officers as they are responsible for enforcing the lockdown and social distancing. As per a report by The Hindu, on an average, India has one police official per 761 people. In Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, it is one per 950 people. This explains how strained the police force currently is.
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