Editor’s Note
Rioting and its accompanying violence is a recurring problem globally. Police forces face many limitations in controlling these activities, resulting in their intensity and increasing loss of life and property. Using drones with the correct sensors and systems mounted would substantially enhance policing capabilities, argues the writer in this piece.
The recent and ongoing incidents of riots/unruly armed crowds in the Low-Intensity Conflict Situations (LICO) situations in remote, isolated, mountainous towns and villages of Manipur, to not-so-recent but extremely violent targeted riots in cities have found the law enforcement agencies wanting. The reason for this is twofold- firstly, well-targeted, sudden and coordinated arson/rioting with the help of social media/toolkits giving little time for the agencies to react; Secondly- limited boots on the ground, especially in remote areas.
Characteristics of Riotous Crowds and Current Response Means
The crowd control situation can be broadly divided into three geomorphologies: the Urban construct, the Semi-rural/ urban construct and the remote or rural areas. The commonality among all three constructs is that they are well-planned, intense, coordinated attacks by crowds. They are often using women and children as cover, impeding the ability of the security forces to react. The added dimension to the urban rioting has been the use of modified mechanical structures like large catapults, which are used to launch bricks, stones and incendiary materials from the rooftops/high-rise buildings to target the common public, government properties and the security forces.
The traditional method of crowd control, namely the tear gas shells and water cannons, is not able to counter the crowd/rioters effectively. The reason for the inefficiency of the Tear gas is the shell’s range, which is around 135 ±10 Meters (400-500 feet), which places the security forces in close proximity of the crowd while the lead elements of the crowd might be much closer than 100 meters, thus, blurring the line between the security forces and the rioters.
Further, the shells only cause eye, mucus and skin irritation, which can be overcome by the use of water as well as wet clothes. Many times, the rioters pick up the stationary smoking teargas shells and fling them back on the security forces, causing further harm to the forces. The Tear gas shells cannot be lobbed against the violent crowd elements on the high-rise buildings and rooftops. To make matters worse, if the crowd decides to break up into multiple smaller groups and decides to disperse into the alleys, the tear gas-wielding security personnel can’t follow them. The same limitations as elucidated above apply to the water cannons, which are even more restricted in terms of rapid deployment and movement in narrow streets.
The difficulties faced by the security forces in semi-urban areas are similar to those faced in the urban areas but are accentuated by narrow, non-metaled roads, multiple unmapped by-lanes, and irregular and often illegal constructions, which can be used by crowds for sudden attack and dispersal tactics.
Tear gas, lathi charge and water cannons are ineffective in such situations. While the dynamics of rural areas often add remoteness to the situation, permitting the Naxalite, terrorists, and rioters to exploit the lack of surveillance and the inability of forces to reach the incident area speedily enough. More often than not, when the crowds see the forces approach, they block the narrow roads to the villages and allow the perpetrators of the crime to mix with the local population. The thick foliage or fields often provide the ideal terrain to disperse and disappear before any action can be taken.
Resolution of the Security Conundrum
The solution to the issue faced in the urban/ semi-urban and rural/ remote areas lies in the ability to react to the tactics of the rioters, terrorists, and Naxalites in the same manner besides nullifying the operational disparity that they have created.
The suggested solution lies in quick, effective counter systems which can disperse and control the crowd. The system should be able to selectively, effectively, and accurately counter the elements on the rooftop/high-rise buildings besides the crowd that moves into by-lanes and other hiding places. Therefore, the solution should have three basic components besides the ability to incapacitate the crowd in rare conditions – firstly, it should be able to record evidence of crime/ violence; secondly, it should be able to disperse violent crowds effectively; thirdly, it should have the ability to identify, besides marking the perpetrators of crime.
Thus, the third dimension, or the air, holds the solution. That solution is for drones equipped with electro-optical infra-red (EOIR) cameras with real-time encrypted communication abilities for data navigation and ordinance delivery. Drones shall have the ability to deploy pepper spray cans/ grenades besides providing effective ISR (through EO-IR cameras to cover almost all kinds of lighting conditions) along with secondary drones to physically mark out the perpetrators of crime or those present (for questioning/ cross- questioning later) with permanent, non-motile dye which is preferably fluorescent. These four elements are discussed in detail below.
Recording of Crime/Situation
High Velocity drones with an extended range of operations (75 km and above) equipped with EO/ IR cameras, which have the ability to record even in low light conditions, can be employed. The drones should have a minimum ability of 4G/5G, which ensures the seamless and continuous relay of information to/from them. The drones shall be able to fly at a minimum fixed cruising altitude as selected by the operator (default 50 metres AGL) and with an effective ceiling of 10,000 ft or above. It will allow continuous relay of the situation and its recording at the ground control stations.
The gimble-equipped camera should be able to swivel, along with variable heights of operation. This will share situational awareness with the control centre and record the surrounding terrain/features/point of interest as desired by the operators.
Dispersion of Crowd
The drones should carry up to four pepper spray cans/grenades, each containing 330 or eight cans of 160 grams of compressed pepper spray mixture. The grenade will be dropped over the selected targets from 50-100 ft ( 20-40 m) above the target/ intended place (roof-top/ ground surface). The grenade will take 10-12 seconds to release the pepper spray. In nil-wind conditions, this 330 gm of pepper spray would be adequate to cover an area of 200 * 200 sq. ft. Since the drones carrying these pepper sprays would also be equipped with EO/IR cameras and would have real-time communications besides the ability to fly and navigate at any given height and beyond LOS conditions. It will provide the security agencies the ability to:
i. Tackle the crowd at remote distant locations.
ii. Tackle the violent crowds over roof tops/ high rise buildings.
iii. Tackle the crowd from safe distance of few 100 meters to tens of km.
iv. Ability to react almost at the earliest even in remote areas.
v. Ability to tackle violent crowd which break into large chunks and groups, dispersed in various by-lanes/ alleys.
vi. Record the situation before and after the drop of the pepper spray cans to mitigate any human rights or legal issues created later by motivated /planted NGOs activists etc.
The actual perpetrator of the riots/ violence can be effectively targeted despite the perpetrators using women and children as human shields or despite them being in remote/ inaccessible locations. The height of release of the grenades can be easily controlled by means of a radio altimeter, and the effect of wind can be computed by sensors and corrected at the ground station controlling the drone.
Incapacitating the Crowd/ Violent Elements
As a reaction to extremely violent acts, drones will always carry one stun grenade. The number of stun grenades carried can be increased by removing the pepper spray grenade. The stun grenades have the ability to incapacitate the selected targets over a limited given area and cause temporary blindness/ deafness for a few minutes to a few hours. The drones will be utilised to drop the stun grenade to explode 8-10 ft above the specified targets. Thus, extremely violent perpetrators can be controlled in a remote area from tens of km away.
Identification of the Perpetrators of Crimes
A secondary drone, in conjunction with a crowd control drone (the drone which carries pepper spray or stun grenades) equipped with an EO/IR camera and carrying containers filled with permanent fluorescent dye, which also have a foul smell, will be operating in tandem. This dye-carrying drone shall have two variants – the first one will carry dye with a tank capacity of seven litres and above for a shorter range of a few km. The longer-range version from 75 km and above shall have a dye tank of 2.5 litres. Both drones would be equipped with spray control systems. The operator can spray this dye from a few meters to 10-15 meters above the violent crowd.
With its pungent smell, the permanent fluorescent dye can be utilised to identify the people in the crowd or even mark out the perpetrators in remote areas. It shall assist the security agencies involved in rioting and violent crimes. The accompanying EO/IR camera would record all the activities of the rioters before and after the spray. The permanence of the dye, its fluorescent nature and the foul smell shall make identifying individuals involved feasible even hours and days after the incidents occur. Further, people who have this dye on them would stand out in the crowd and be easily identified, easing investigations. Different colour combinations for other areas/times shall help segregate or tally the movement of the crowd/crowd elements involved in rioting at various places and timelines.
A combination of these two drone systems shall reduce the stress and strain on the security forces and allow them to react effectively even in difficult and inaccessible locations. Due to either distance or urban / semi-urban operational situations. Further, drones can supply drops of medicines, sprays, and other facilities in natural disasters and calamities. The essential equipment described, namely the EOIR cameras and chilly/ stun grenades, besides the avionics required, exist and require simple integration.
Gp Capt Arun Prasad Kashyap (Retd)
