Pubdate: Fri, 14 Sep 2012
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Ian Robertson
Page: 22

POT-SPOTTER TAKES TO SKY

TORONTO - Look up, look way up.

Was it a bird? Was it a spy plane?

Not a bird, but definitely the latter was soaring over Halton Region,
police revealed Thursday.

What police for the first time flew over Milton and Halton Hills on
Wednesday was a pot-spotting drone - which detected secret rural
grow-ops that netted $744,000 worth of illegal weed, Sgt. Dave Cross
said.

Drug and morality plus guns and gangs officers kept their feet on the
ground as the covert, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) took to the skies
to snoop out marijuana crops.

The battery-powered UAV, which fits into a backpack, "was able to take
aerial photographs of what it was looking at and transmitted them
remotely back to an operator," Cross said.

No one was tending 14 raided cultivated weed sites but officers
harvested 744 plants worth $1,000 each.

The Halton Region force has tested and used an Aeryon Labs Inc. UAV
"Micro Scout" since 2009, flying it over collision sites to take
photos, and aiding in search-and-rescue operations.

Controlled by forensic specialists using laptop computers fitted with
map-based, touch-screen interfaces, the 80-centimetre-long,
propeller-driven 1.4 kg drone can fly up to 50 km/h has a thermal
camera, using high-resolution still and video cameras fitted with
10-times optical zoom.

While the Scout looks like a toy helicopter, "it's certainly
cutting-edge technology," Cross said.

Pictures are so sharp, someone lost, sneaking through the woods or a
corn field near a pot-grow site can be targeted with facial
recognition technology.

"Most of these bandits are planting in heavy terrain, like corn
fields, where a marijuana plant really stands out," Det. Jeff Leder
said.

"Its basically silent and gives us a real advantage," he said, adding
after using military helicopters or borrowing them from other police
forces, "in my experience it's the first time we've used it in the
eradication program."

Since 2007, Transport Canada issued flight certificates for 1,000
civilian UAVs. Such eyes-in-the-sky mini-drones are also sold around
the world to police and military corporate clients.

In June, federal officials announced a business loan of up to $985,000
to help Aeryon Labs. Inc. of Waterloo hire 15 employees while
advancing the design, development, and manufacture of Scouts.

Anyone with information can anonymously contact Crime Stoppers,
1-800-222-TIPS (8477), through the web at haltoncrimestoppers.com or
text "Tip201" with your message to 274637(crimes).
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MAP posted-by: Matt