Several times a day, a drone carrying high-capacity cameras and flashing red-blue lights hovers and soars from the rooftops of police stations across Hong Kong.
They emerge from a box-shaped connector system that slowly opens its doors on both sides. Some hover over billion-dollar city villas with private pools and tennis courts; others move along streets crowded with people and traffic.
Hong Kong police have rapidly expanded their use of surveillance technology and automated drones. They have used drones to hunt down people who have overstayed their visas or gambled illegally.
According to the police force, these technologies will help provide high quality police services and optimize deployment and efficiency. Drones and cameras are also likely to be combined with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition capabilities.
Drones will replace some of the foot police patrols, and tens of thousands of surveillance cameras will be installed to aid in investigations and arrests.
Since a pilot drone patrol scheme was wrapped up in May of last year, the technology helped arrest 54 people, including at least six wanted individuals, according to police. The force did not provide full details, but at least half of the suspects are suspected of having committed non-violent crimes.
In an operation last month that stretched from West Kowloon to Lantau Island, police — with the help of drones — arrested 19 people suspected of immigration violations and prostitution.
In another case, police used drones to catch a group of eight middle-aged and elderly people gambling illegally at a public housing estate in Ma On Shan. Police also fined two drivers spotted crossing a lane of traffic on the way to Shek O, using a drone.
Police have not responded to HKFP’s request for more details on how the drones helped during those arrests and investigations.
The increased use of drones is a response to China’s push for a “low-altitude economy,” which can be integrated into everyday services ranging from deliveries to law enforcement, said Sky Yeung, chairman of the DNT FPV Drone Association in Hong Kong, China.
Businesses such as delivery companies and government agencies can test drone use scenarios through a regulatory exemption scheme, and the government is taking steps to prepare for more drones in the air, whether operated commercially or by authorities, Yeung said.
So far, the police have not explicitly said anything about using drones for national security purposes, which has been a priority for Hong Kong law enforcement in recent years.
However, as one expert told HKFP, the ability is there.
Regardless of the stated purpose of policing technology, once the law allows an agitator, a national security risk or a terrorist to be prosecuted, it becomes “malleable,” said Bryce Neary, former executive editor of the Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law. The US-based lawyer studied the use of drones and surveillance technology in Hong Kong, China and the US.
If a government “makes a legal case to do that, then the technology is in place and can be used regardless, and as needed essentially, when the government wants to change those conditions for their use,” Neary told HKFP by phone.
Additionally, there are potential privacy issues.
To people on the ground, police drones flying between 60 and 90 meters above the ground will be barely visible to the naked eye, Yeung said, and their buzzing noise is unlikely to cause disturbance, given other urban noises.
But nothing escapes the drones flying above us. Police drones, similar to those used in China, can typically “film everything” with “powerful lenses that can zoom in from a great distance, such as seeing what’s inside a vehicle,” he said.
Police drones are marked with flashing lights and reflective boards for people to identify, but these will not be visible at their usual operating altitude, Yeung said. “You might see a flash point at night, but you won’t notice.”
When asked about privacy concerns by the HKFP, the police force said its drone patrols fly over “carefully” planned routes that only cover public areas and do not include private spaces such as building interiors.
The drones “avoid flying unnecessarily close to individuals or private premises” — unless the situation calls for an investigation, in which case the drones will descend to lower altitudes to collect evidence, police said in a statement.
Video footage without evidentiary value will not be kept for more than 31 days, and those received as evidence will be classified as such and handled by the investigative unit, the police statement said.
Over the past two years, Hong Kong authorities have introduced more surveillance technology seamlessly into the “patriots-only” legislature — and without protest.
This is in stark contrast to when angry demonstrators tore down experimental “smart” lampposts during the city’s protests and riots in 2019. Unhappy with shrinking political freedoms, protesters suspected the lampposts would allow authorities to conduct surveillance by adding facial recognition capabilities to their panoramic cameras.
The government strongly denied such plans at the time and promised the cameras would be turned off or their resolution reduced to calm concerns.
However, in a twist, law enforcement is now considering adding facial recognition technology to its toolkit. Such systems can be connected to police surveillance cameras as early as this year, said Police Chief Joe Chow in February. By 2028, the police will install a total of 60,000 cameras across Hong Kong.
The goal is to have “as many cameras as possible” and replicate what is in mainland China, where there is camera coverage “every two steps,” he said during a television interview.
“Times have changed” from when society was widely opposed to surveillance and privacy issues, Chow added.
According to police, drone patrols will be used to fight crime, identify traffic violations and monitor traffic flows and crowds.
They can be used to track suspicious individuals, such as someone who appears evasive when the police are nearby, the police said in press conferences.
They may also soon be equipped with artificial intelligence, but police have not specified whether the same facial recognition technology used in cameras would be applied to drones.
Current technology from mainland Chinese surveillance drone vendors can identify people, objects, behaviors and events, according to their product catalogs. They can count and identify different types of vehicles moving on the road or people in a crowd. They can detect illegally parked cars, smoke or fallen objects on power lines. They can tell when the protest banners are unfurled.
Yeung noted the drones’ ability to lock onto a target person and automatically track them as they move — a feature commonly used by police in the US. In short, drones film from above while the police operate on the ground.
During the first phase, which began in May last year, the drones were deployed in Heung Yuen Wai, an area bordering mainland China and West Kowloon.
In the second phase of the scheme, launched in January this year, police drone patrols were extended to remote areas, where foot patrols are less frequent and more prone to theft. such as outlying islands such as Lamma Island and Cheung Chau, as well as Maya.
They also covered busy downtown districts such as the central and suburban residential areas such as Yuen Long and Tsuen Wan.
The police force bought about 700 drones for HK$25 million last financial year and will buy another 56 in 2026-2027 for HK$4.8 million, the Security Bureau said the legislature.
Other agencies also deployed drones for various purposes, from revealing places at risk of landslides in PATROL some tourist hotspots during the Golden Week holidays.
Last year, investigators from the Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene (FEHD) caught individuals who illegally slaughtered a goat in a rural area, with the help of drones.
Some residents on Lamma Island said they were unaware of the police drone patrols, despite prominent banners announcing their presence near the Yung Shue Wan ferry pier and in villages. They said they welcomed the idea that these patrols could prevent theft or bike theft and expressed no concerns about privacy issues.
The islander, who asked to be identified only as Mark, said he believes it’s ultimately the presence of police officers that will make a difference in crime prevention, something drones overhead can’t replace. “What you need is for your child to walk and be visible,” he said.
Neary believes a chilling effect is the intended purpose of police drones, rather than the number or severity of crimes they actually manage to solve.
“Whether or not it’s actually effective in terms of what you’re doing, the fear that you’re being monitored at all times for any of these petty crimes in public or private, I think is going to be a huge deterrent for you to do that,” he said. “And maybe that’s the point in the first place, isn’t it?”
