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Rabat – Morocco’s Royal Gendarmerie is set to start using drones for the surveillance of Moroccan highways. The initiative is currently being piloted.
Moroccan television company SNRT broadcasted a report about the initiative on the national day for road safety, Wednesday, February 19.
Projet-pilote (le mot est bien choisi) au Maroc: la gendarmerie royale (équivalent de la GRC ici) a commencé à utiliser des drones pour la surveillance routière.
Le pilote a été lancé à l’occasion de la journée de la sécurité routière.Posted by Hicham Ben on Wednesday, 19 February 2020
The use of drones aims to strengthen the gendarmerie’s efforts in the field of road safety. It also seeks to ensure the detection of drivers’ infractions that radars cannot record.
“We have launched a trial period for the use of drones in the field of road surveillance. The drones will allow us to detect some infractions regarding the behavior of drivers that we cannot notice,” said Abdelouahed El Khattabi, Captain at the Gendarmerie post in Bouznika, around 40 kilometers south of Rabat.
Infractions that the drones will detect include the use of cellphones while driving, exceeding the passenger or load limit, along with any other behaviors that could threaten the safety of road users.
“The drones are remote-controlled and can be used for road surveillance and in the case of road accidents,” he continued.
The use of drones will facilitate the capture of high definition footage and its transmission through a live feed to the gendarmes on the ground. The footage will also provide proof of any infractions.
According to a Moroccan NGO specialized in drones, the remote-controlled device that appeared on SNRT’s report is a DJI M200 V1 model, equipped with a Zenmuse Z30 camera.
Enfin une photo de notre gendarmerie royale pilotant un DJI M200 V1 avec une Caméra Zoom Z30 X 30 pour la détection…
Posted by Drone Maroc on Tuesday, 18 February 2020
The drone model has a maximum speed of nearly 83 kilometers per hour and can fly as high as 3000 meters above sea level. Meanwhile, the camera has an x30 zoom capacity.
The new addition to the Royal Gendarmerie’s arsenal is inspired by France’s National Gendarmerie. French gendarmes have been using drones for more than a decade, upgrading their fleet every few years.
In France, the gendarmerie uses drones for a number of routine operations, including road safety, criminal chases, and scouting.
