Malaysia deploys “multilingual” drones for MCO enforcement

The Royal Malaysia Police have deployed drones to assist with the enforcement of the Movement Control order (MCO). The police drone unit will be flying drones to provide surveillance at 12 identified COVID-19 hotspots.

Apart from getting a birds-eye view, the drones are equipped with loud-hailers that can play audio messages in Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. The objective is to inform the public to stay at home and to efficiently monitor potential gatherings in public areas.

Apart from drones, the police are also patrolling the streets frequently to ensure that the MCO is being complied. They are also roadblocks to ensure that people stay at home and movement is only allowed for essential activities such as buying food and necessities. During the restricted movement period, all interstate or interdistrict travel is not allowed unless there are strong and valid reasons.

According to The Star, the Armed Forces Chief, Jen Tan Sri Affendi Buang, shared that individuals can be identified from the footages captured from the drones. If needed, personnel can be deployed at certain locations. He added that each drone can operate between 40 minutes to an hour and it can be used to cover high-density areas.

KL City Hall (DBKL) is also deploying drones to assist in monitoring and surveillance during the MCO period. According to the Federal Territories Minister, Tan Sri Annuar Musa, officers will be using drones to monitor areas that are busy and attract a higher concentration of people. He added that this method is more efficient as not all of their officers can monitor these areas on foot or by vehicles.

In case you missed it, the Movement Control Order has been extended by another two weeks until 14th April 2020.

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