Drones may be used as first responders' 'eye in the sky'
A new steering group on drone use in Estonia will look at their potential in responding to incidents, including forest fires and hazards in more outlying areas of the country.
Interior Minister Igor Taro (Eesti 200) has formed a drone policy steering group to explore broader use in daily police and rescue work.
Henry Timberg, who coordinates the field of unmanned aerial vehicles at the Ministry of the Interior, said the steering group's aim is to keep drone activity taking place across different areas of administration under one roof and to develop common positions on the same.
The working group will also take a look at how agencies connected to the Ministry of the Interior might make use of drone technology to simplify or improve their work, Timberg added. This will include the potential use of drones in responding to incidents in more outlying or sparsely populated areas of the country. This could lead to a more efficient use of resources.
"If someone calls the emergency number and there is a fire or another serious hazardous situation, it would be viable to first quickly send an unmanned aircraft to the scene, to observe. This would give the responding agency a very clear picture of what is happening at that moment and how it should react," Timberg explained.
Timberg acknowledged that it is actually quite exceptional for a ministry to create a separate steering group for a single specific technological solution. At the same time, the drone sector brings with it a large number of different risks that need to be mitigated.
"The forecast is that in two years, if such broad and coordinated integration is successful, the work of this steering group can be considered complete. After that, the use, monitoring, and, if necessary, countering of drones will become a routine part of the work of agencies, just as the use of information technology solutions is commonplace in institutions today. For now, it is simply seen that this field requires more attention and focus in order to be integrated more quickly," Timberg said.
Around two years ago, the interior and justice ministries together compiled a bill to amend the Law Enforcement Act, which would have included the codification of the use of drones in surveillance and for providing safety and security at major events, such as the Song Festival.
This amendment would have permitted law enforcement to film the public without informing them in advance, as is the case under current law.
While that bill has not been completed, Timberg said that the Ministry of Justice is currently working on the draft legislation.
"There is potential in using such solutions, especially in situations where doing the same work with human resources would require significantly more effort. With technical means, it is possible to cover and monitor a larger area in order to assess risks. However, this certainly requires an updated and revised legal framework, because at present our legal system does not yet very specifically regulate how the state may use unmanned aerial vehicles. In the coming weeks or months, it will become clear what kind of initial legal regulation will be proposed and what it will ultimately look like," the expert said.
The use of cameras in surveillance, for instance in combating speeding on the roads, has been a live issue in recent months, with privacy concerns being raised by some experts, academics and also politicians.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mirjam Mäekivi
