Germany’s national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, plans to test small drones to try to reduce the amount of graffiti being sprayed on its property. Costs of damaged property are estimated to be about 7.6 million euros each year! Only last year, it was necessary to remove more than 14,000 paintings on cars.
The company spokesman said the drones would be tested and used at rail depots soon. The idea is to use small drones quipped with infra-red cameras to gather evidence, which could then be used to prosecute vandals who deface property at night.
But it is not yet clear how Germany’s strict anti-surveillance laws might affect their use. The BBC’s Stephen Evans in Berlin says using cameras to film people surreptitiously is a sensitive issue in Germany, where privacy is very highly valued.
A Deutsche Bahn spokesman told the BBC that its drones would be used in big depots where vandals enter at night and spray-paint carriages. The drones would have infra-red sensors sophisticated enough for people to be identified, providing key evidence for prosecutions.
But it seems the cameras would be tightly focused within Deutsche Bahn’s own property – people or property outside the depots would not be filmed, so that no privacy laws are violated.
The drone issue is also sensitive in Germany, let’s hope that this project would not be stopped as it happened already to an expensive project to develop Germany’s own surveillance drone, called Euro Hawk.
Příspěvek German railways to test anti-graffiti drones pochází z MENSURO