Indonesian police have started actively using drones to monitor offences and issue fines to those who break the rules. For now, the flying patrol units operating with the ETLE Drone Patrol Presisi system are deployed only in the country’s capital, but the authorities plan to roll it out to other cities and provinces as well.
The drones not only record video, but can also recognise number plates and even faces. They are not yet fitted with police lights and sirens, so we won’t be getting the full cyberpunk experience just yet.
Aerial monitoring is already under way on the capital’s key motorways. Using drones makes it possible to identify offenders quickly and accurately, removing the need for officers to stop vehicles manually. The system is fully integrated with the electronic fines mechanism, which means there’s no way to avoid punishment or “settle it on the spot”. Police say the system is accurate, but they have not yet disclosed the error rate, which is inevitably present.
For the drones, monitoring even heavy rush-hour traffic is not a problem. For example, aerial patrols have already recorded several cars breaking the even/odd day driving restriction rules (which apply on certain days in Jakarta), after which the data were sent to the electronic fine-processing system.
The head of the police said that introducing drones is an important part of the department’s digital transformation, aimed at creating a modern, technology-driven traffic enforcement system. Police also added that these drones should significantly improve oversight on high-traffic roads.
It seems it won’t be long before being a foreigner tearing around Bali’s roads speeding without a helmet and without a shirt becomes not only unsafe, but also extremely costly.
Sources: detik, infodenpasar
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