Robot police — continued from Page 13 that public safety was compromised during the incident, and Mark Lawrence said he remains bitter about the subsequent negative press reports following what was effectively a successful operational outcome. The Merseyside Police no longer operates a UAV, and some suggest, unconfirmed, that the system was lost in a river.
Not so sold on UAS Essex Police purchased an AirRobot in May 2008 at a cost of 22,000 pounds ($36,200). According to press officer Roger Grimwade, the quadrotor “was purchased for crowd safety at events such as the V Festival and for crime prevention.” The UAS was potentially seen as a cost-effective alternative to using other resources; the cost of deploying a helicopter for the duration of a two-day music festival, for instance, would be prohibitive. However the AirRobot was never deployed operationally “whilst clarification was obtained regarding licensing legislation.” It seems that that the allure of UAS technology has been lost on the Essex Police, and the force’s AirRobot is being sold. Similarly Strathclyde Police, the largest of Scotland’s eight police forces, decided against the operational use of UAS following ostensibly successful trials of Cyber Flight’s E-Swift Eye, a sturdy 2-kilogram micro-UAS, in 2007 and 2008. According to Cyber Flight Director Terry Carpenter, the project was initiated by an officer in Strathclyde’s Research and Evaluation Department “who had personal experience and knowledge of the issues surrounding search over inland open waters and open ground in the West Highland areas of Scotland.” A press notice dated 29 Aug., 2007, described Strathclyde’s Deputy Chief Constable Ricky Gray as being enthusiastic about the introduction of the high-tech equipment and the subsequent decision not to deploy E-Swift Eye “came as a complete surprise,” says Carpenter. The UAS had received “a very positive evaluation
report,” but the project was put on hold following the arrival of a new chief constable. Carpenter is philosophical: “Innovation and development within the police does not happen very fast.”
Civil autonomy In 2007, BAE Systems announced that the company was working with police authorities and other law enforcement agencies toward the introduction of autonomous UAS for civil applications as part of the South Coast Project. At the time, BAE Systems commented that, “2012 is the date currently accepted by ASTREA [Aerial Support to Regional Enforcement Agencies] and other bodies concerned with the development and certification of UAVs as the earliest achievable date for UAVs to operate in controlled airspace.” This timeframe is contested. According to the CAA “no one (that we are aware of) is remotely close to producing a workable detect/sense and avoid system. Whilst some areas of industry claim that they will have a system by 2012, it is more likely to be 2015 or even 2020 at the earliest.”
It seems that that the allure of UAS technology has been lost on the Essex Police, and the force’s AirRobot is being sold.
the surveillance potential of such systems, the fight against crime is cited as “of more interest.” Additionally, UAS could be used more effectively than a helicopter for such purposes as traffic monitoring and public safety at major events, such as the London 2012 Olympics. Assistant Chief Constable Allyn Thomas of the Kent Police and SCP lead confirmed that the group had looked at possible uses for autonomous UAS “in the expectation that BAE might be flying a developmental system in the near future. However, this did not come to pass, and so the SCP is in hibernation at present.” Lack of funding seems to have stalled the SCP. “BAE couldn’t fund it,” says Thomas, “and the partners had no money.” Then there are the technological airworthiness challenges posed by autonomous systems. Thomas described the current market as “very immature,” with little understanding of the benefits such technologies could offer. He added that “the regulator — the CAA — is not permissive, but then there is no established business with an airworthy vehicle beating a path to their door.” Efforts over the past couple of years to establish some form of cooperation with French and Dutch counterparts, as well as endeavors to secure European Union funding for a demonstration site, have not met with success to date.
Further details of the SCP — involving the police forces of Essex, Kent and Merseyside, as well as the Borders Agency, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and HM Revenue & Customs — came to light in January 2010, following a Freedom of Information request by the Guardian newspaper. One of the UAS under consideration was BAE System’s Herti, which has already deployed to Afghanistan with the Royal Air Force.
There are plans to establish a National Police Air Service in order to coordinate countrywide air assets, possibly based on the infrastructure provided by the British Transport Police, which has a national footprint. The NPAS might provide the right forum for revisiting the potential of UAS, but a lack of money, viable technology and public support suggests that there is unlikely to be a wider adoption of these unmanned systems any time soon.
A Guardian article from 23 Jan., 2010, described the SCP aims as “a significant expansion of covert state surveillance.” While a cover note to the Freedom of Information Disclosure document acknowledges
Yvonne Headington is a freelance writer on Defence and Security issues and edits the weekly newsletter Defence News Analysis – A View from London (www.dranda.btinternet.co.uk). Mission Critical
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Summer 2011
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