Two men saunter down The Strand in central London.
asserted
men → saunter → London
They have just stolen several bottles of wine from a convenience store, but the thought of being arrested hasn't crossed their minds.
asserted
thought → steal → minds
After all, who gets done for shoplifting these days?
asserted
who → do → shoplifting
Staff at the store have dialled 999, and from five miles away, police are watching the thieves' every move.
asserted
police → dial → move
A drone high above their heads is following and filming them, while the officer piloting it remotely is sending real-time information about their whereabouts to other cops on the ground.
asserted
officer → follow → ground
As two patrol cars arrive, the shocked pair split up.
asserted
pair → arrive → ?
One is quickly caught before the drone moves off in pursuit of the second, the pilot updating officers on his whereabouts.
asserted
pilot → catch → whereabouts
He doesn't stand a chance of escaping.
asserted
He → stand → escaping
The drone's footage – which will be stored, logged and used in evidence against the crooks – shows only the tops of their heads.
asserted
which → store → heads
Welcome to the future of policing, a world where cops will have eyes on criminals within two minutes.
asserted
cops → welcome → minutes
Where robbers, thieves, murderers and rapists will find it much harder to evade capture.
asserted
it → find → capture
And where missing people can be more easily found and rescued.
asserted
people → miss → ?
But it is also, argue civil rights campaigners, a world in which our entitlement to privacy and anonymity will be eroded by eyes in the sky, with the authorities eventually knowing who you are and what you're up to as you go about your daily business.
asserted
you → argue → business
After all, on the first page of Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell wrote: 'In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle...
asserted
helicopter → write → bluebottle
It was the police patrol, snooping into people's windows.'
asserted
It → snoop → windows
Grabs from Met Police footage of shoplifters taken with the force's new drone cameras
Teams of two pilots watching an array of screens are fed details of 999 calls about crimes in which drones could play a pivotal role
These are the two forces pulling in different directions as law enforcement's use of fast-moving technology races ahead of the legal frameworks designed to govern it.
uncertain
use → take → it
On the one hand, the use of remotely controlled drones will doubtless cut crime, make you safer on the streets and catch more bad guys.
asserted
you → control → guys
On the other hand are real concerns over some dystopian – and so far imaginary – future in which Big Brother could have eyes on us all, all the time.
uncertain
Brother → have → us
There are currently data protection laws and police and Civil Aviation Authority protocols that determine what can be filmed by police cameras, how that footage is used, stored and disposed of and where and how high drones can fly.
asserted
drones → be → cameras
But legal boundaries specific to drones are yet to be set by the Government – and police argue that they simply can't wait for them while criminals embrace technology apace.
asserted
criminals → set → technology
In a speech in June heralding the use of more drones as first responders to 999 calls, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: 'New technology often meets resistance, but when it is used responsibly and proves its worth, it becomes indispensable.
asserted
it → herald → worth
'Policing today will fail if it is not allowed to keep pace with criminals through technology.
asserted
it → fail → technology
Tellingly, he added: 'Criminals don't have to play by any rules.
asserted
Criminals → add → rules
They do not care about protecting your data – they actively seek to exploit it.
asserted
they → care → it
They are not constrained by governance or procurement rules.
asserted
They → constrain → governance
According to the Met, drones have played a big part in reducing mobile phone thefts in the capital by 21 per cent in just one year
How then are these drones used, who is controlling that use, and just how good are they in criminal situations?
Police forces across the country have been deploying drones for years, but until recently they have been piloted on the ground by officers with eyes on them.
uncertain
they → accord → them
According to the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), police forces conducted 86,000 drone flights last year.
uncertain
forces → accord → flights
Since 2023, the NPCC has been promoting their use from beyond the line of sight so they can be first to the scenes of crime.
asserted
they → promote → crime
On average, drones, travelling at just under 50mph in a straight line, arrive in less than two minutes, compared with a ten-minute target for patrol cars blue-lighting to the scene.
asserted
cars → travel → scene
'Our arrest rate has doubled because, when we use drones, we don't lose people,' says Superintendent Taryn Evans, the NPCC's lead for drones.
asserted
Evans → double → drones
'Imagine someone calls in saying, 'There are men cycling around in balaclavas stealing people's phones on Oxford Street.'
asserted
someone → imagine → Street
'By the time we get to Oxford Street in a car, they would have heard the sirens and seen the lights and they would have gone.
asserted
they → get → lights
But if a drone is overhead, the drone pilots have already identified and located the suspects.
asserted
pilots → identify → suspects
They say, 'No problem.
asserted
They → say → problem
The suspects have gone down here, left here, right here.'
asserted
suspects → go → ?
And at a time and a place of our choosing, we coordinate resources and we calmly put in an intervention.'
asserted
we → coordinate → intervention
According to the Met, drones have played a big part in reducing mobile phone thefts in the capital by 21 per cent in just one year.
uncertain
drones → accord → year
Supt Evans shows me round the Met's central drones hub, a small, unremarkable office at Hammersmith police station in west London.
asserted
Evans → show → London
From here, teams of two pilots watching an array of screens are fed details of 999 calls about crimes in which drones could play a pivotal role.
uncertain
drones → watch → role
Sgt Ian Anderson of the Air Support Unit with an example of a police drone that remotely flies and lands from special docks around London
The Met, which is at the vanguard of the use of drones as first responders, has seven that can be launched in seconds from high-tech docking stations permanently situated on police station roofs in Islington, north London (two drones), Charing Cross in the West End (three), and Kennington in south London (two).
asserted
that → fly → London
…and 54 more, not listed.
The Aporia
