Security: The gendarmerie will use a camera mounted on a drone in Grand Case
On Sunday around midnight in Grand Case, a couple of tourists were surprised by individuals demanding that they hand over their personal belongings. When the man hesitated to comply, he was shot. The “particular seriousness” of this incident, and more generally, “the context of a general rise in crime and the multiple armed robberies that have occurred recently in the Grand Case neighborhood” prompted the police to install “airborne cameras” to ensure public safety and prevent disturbances to public order. On Tuesday, the gendarmerie command requested authorization from the préfet “to capture, record, and transmit images using a camera installed on aircraft” in Grand Case for a period of two weeks.
This type of drone offers “a wide-angle view to enable the maintenance and restoration of public order while limiting the engagement of ground forces.” This device is authorized by the Internal Security Code* within a very specific and strict regulatory framework. According to a decree issued by the Minister of the Interior, the national police, national gendarmerie, and customs services may simultaneously use up to forty cameras installed on aircraft in Saint Martin.
The préfet, considering that “it is necessary to ensure the safety of people and property and to prevent disturbances to public order, especially in an area considered to be the island's tourist showcase,” immediately authorized the use of a camera mounted on a drone that can fly over all the streets of Grand Case for the next two weeks. Two or more cameras are not allowed to fly at the same time.
In 2024, the gendarmerie had already requested the use of drones, particularly in Colombier and Sandy Ground, for a period of three months.
*The use of drones was introduced into the law of May 25, 2021, for overall security, certain articles of which were amended by the law of January 24, 2022, relating to criminal responsibility and internal security. A decree was issued on April 19, 2023, specifying the implementation of the processing of images captured by aircraft for administrative police missions, and an order published on the same day set the maximum number of cameras that can be installed on aircraft and used simultaneously in each department and overseas collectivity.
