Helicopter-mounted cameras will monitor city streets and squares, seeking out unlicensed waste dumps and building sites. Drone-like devices with video game-style controls.
MILAN – It’s silent, almost invisible and operates by day and night. It can even see and film in the dark. People are calling it a "spy in the sky" but it actually looks more like a flying saucer. Its four sets of rotors humming, the spy-copter rises off the ground, its outline so faint that it melts into the background when it’s only thirty metres up in the air.In the spy in the sky’s belly is a microcamerathat takes photographs and filmsto monitor traffic and, in particular, for security purposes.In the next few weeks, the flying camera will be buzzing overhead as Milan residents go about their business. It’s the latest and most futuristic step in the march of metropolitan security. But it is also emblematic of the nightmare of a city under non-stop surveillance.
The miniature helicopter exploits the same technology as drones, the pilotless
aircraft used in military operations or for spying.The two units purchased by
Milan’s city authorities will reinforce a system of video surveillance so
extensive that it is comparable elsewhere in Europe only to London’s. In flight,
the cameras are operated like a video game.In fact, the American Air Force is
considering recruiting X-Box generation pilots who have spent years twiddling
the controls of a game console.That’s the first problem for the technicians in
Milan:training.Exercises are under way and the first operational flights will
take place soon.The objective isto monitor and identify disused dump sites,
unlicensed building work and run-down areas in suburbs, streets and squares.For
the time being, it is not planned to use the spy in the sky during
demonstrations.Metropolitan trials of the devices began last March in Liverpool,
at the suggestion of the local police force, which hopes to use the spy-copters
in investigations. Helicopters from the same German manufacturer are being used
in both Liverpool and Milan.The models, too, are identical, featuring an
80-centimetre circular profile and a central camera mounting. One battery gives
the device half an hour’s flying time.
The spy in the sky weighs one and a half kilograms. Operators can assemble or
disassemble the device in ten minutes and the components can be carried in a
case the size of a backpack. The spy-copter has a rangeof up to 500 metres from
the console and can reach an altitude of 150 metres."Without manpower, you can’t
do anything", explains Milan’s deputy mayor, Riccardo De Corato, "but the new
technologies are crucial for supplying tools that go beyond traditional
investigation techniques.Milan is leading the way in this respect". Milan is also
the most video-monitored city in Italy.The council alone has invested 60 million
euros in recent years to install and run 700 CCTV cameras. All are linked to the
municipal police operations room, which is at the disposal of state police and
Carabinieri.There are another 1,300 electronic eyes on the three lines of the
metro system, plus the private CCTV installation in banks, shopping malls and
jewellery shops.The two helicopters will be part of this network, sending their
live images to a mobile control unit of vans fitted with computers and monitors
and to the central operations room.Another possible use is road surveillance."In
a city as complex as Milan", says Edoardo Croci, the councillor responsible for
mobility and the environment, "we are focusing on cutting-edge technology for
traffic management. One example is the area around San Siro stadium, where
football matches and concerts entail monitoring the outflow of 80,000 people".
While the spy-copters are radio-controlled, they can also be piloted by
satelliteto trace precise flight paths between buildingsor mount stake-outs in
the parks. Mr De Corato concludes, "People have to know that they are being
monitored whether they see uniformed officers or not".Spy-copters have been used
in Los Angeles since it became the first city in the world to do so last
year.Objections to the spy in the sky were raised by critics worried about
privacy."Do we really want to live in a society where our backyard barbecues
will be open to police scrutiny?"A spokesman for the county sheriff’s department
replied,"These days you can’t go anywhere without a camera watching you, whether
you’re in a grocery store or walking down the street".
Gianni Santucci
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
Italian version
http://www.corriere.it/english/articoli/2007/06_Giugno/04/Saucers.shtml
