Tourists are getting attacked on Table Mountain, the army is in the Cape Flats, and popular tourism sites are warning women not to visit our country without a chaperone.

In other words, the current high crime rates aren’t a good look for Cape Town.

The City of Cape Town is working on it, though.

Their latest plan to combat crime involves drones, which will be brought in to help with everything from policing to inspecting bridges, reports Business Insider.

The City is in the final stages of obtaining licences from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), and they hope to have the drones in the air by next year.

…JP Smith said that over the past five years, the City has worked with various departments to see which parts of the city management could benefit from drones.

Recently, as a trial, a drone was used successfully during a police raid, he said. The drone was able to find a man hiding behind two vehicles. The drone pilot alerted the police, and the suspect was apprehended.

Planned uses for the drones include:

• Inspecting firebreaks in non-accessible areas.
• Searching for blocked waterways and canals that are hard to get to.
• Inspecting pylons and bridges.
• Providing information on traffic accidents.
• Adding live intelligence during police during raids.
• Increasing security in informal settlements.
• Gathering data during emergencies such as veld fires and flooding.

Cape Town has already dropped half a million on drones, and assembled a team of six pilots to fly them.

According to Smith, drones offer a large cost benefit, being much cheaper than hiring helicopters.

But the city can only get the drones in the air after a formal application with the SACAA, a process which Smith hopes with be completed within 6 to 12 months.

According to the Commercial Unmanned Aviation Association of South Africa (CUAASA), a body representing drone companies, it can take as long as 18 to 24 months for a drone application to be approved. There is currently a backlog of 400 applications, according to CUAASA. It says delays in approving applications is costing the industry 46,000 jobs and R4 billion in potential revenue.

Drones must go through the same certification as other air-based mechanisms like helicopters, planes or hot air balloons. The City will have to work closely with SACAA to ensure that they don’t fly into restricted zones like Cape Town International Airport.

I’ll leave you with the video that the Western Cape government made about basic drone regulations, which is worth watching if you plan on flying your toy around when the sun finally breaks through.

[source:businessinsider]