Security drones on patrol – don’t get caught with your pants down

Residents of Johannesburg’s northern suburbs might want to reconsider any nude sunbathing sessions they have planned, since a few new eyes in the sky will be roaming about their neighbourhoods in future.

Security company Fidelity is rolling out its new Fidelity Drone service over Fourways in a trial period for the coming two months, before expanding it to more suburbs, in an effort to modernise crime fighting.

In a statement, chief executive officer of Fidelity Services Group Wahl Bartmann described the roll-out as an “exciting new offering”, saying it will consist of a mobile command centre with a qualified drone pilot and state-of-the-art drone.

“The tactical drone unit is a hybrid unit that will operate on a patrol basis and will be activated and rediverted in case of an emergency and or ongoing search,” Bartmann explained.

“The command centre is linked to a tactical response unit for both reactive and proactive purposes. Customers contact a call centre to activate the drone response and on sites where Fidelity ADT already provides guarding, the drone response will be worked into the incident escalation procedure.

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The group hopes that the drones will serve as not only a deterrent, but also help in tracking down and locating intruders and criminals in the areas where they operate. They believe this makes the drones especially suitable for security estates and “increase proactive crime prevention” .

“Drones can also play an important role in other emergency situations that require monitoring, such as dangerous fires and land invasions,”  Bartmann added.

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Another aspect of the drone roll-out involves working with the existing Vumacam suburb surveillance system, which has in the past come under intense scrutiny due to concerns about privacy and illegal use of public infrastructure.

Vumacam has clashed with privacy lobby groups and the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) over its closed-circuit television system across Johannesburg’s suburbs.

Their application before the High Court in Johannesburg to force the JRA to consider their application for erecting with an application before the high court yet to rule on their application for wayleaves to install infrastructure for their camera system, was successful in August 2020.

Also Read: ‘What we do with our infrastructure none of your business,’ Vumacam tells JRA

This after the JRA had initially refused, arguing that the erection of the cameras infringes on individuals’ freedom of movement and rights to privacy. The court, however, disagreed, saying a wayleave application is very narrow in scope, essentially telling the JRA to stay in its lane, and simply consider whether the wayleave application conforms to the requirements of the bylaws, since their cited objections fell outside of their mandate.

Bartmann said they were well aware of these concerns, and that the issues raised “are being dealt with by Vumacam”.

Meanwhile, he promised that residents of the areas in question don’t have to be concerned about their privacy being invaded.

“Drones need to be licenced and flight details have to be approved to fly in certain areas,” he explained, saying drone operations can only be conducted with the permission of the affected landowner, or person designated with the authority to grant such permission.

In response to The Citizen’s questions about residents who wish to opt out of having their properties patrolled, he said: “Technology allows for pin point accuracy with regards to flying patterns and operational execution and can easily avoid unnecessary activity in properties not comfortable with operations within their sphere.”

He also promised that the drones would operate strictly within the guideline laid out by the Civil Aviation authority, as well as conforming the the Protection of Personal Information Act’s  privacy regulations.

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He also confirmed that Fidelity has received approval from the estates and home owners’ associations in the areas where the drones will operate.