Filming from the Environmental Guard drones, admitted as evidence in court. “It sounds good on paper, hard to use in reality.”
On R/Romania, one of the most active online spaces, users have reacted immediately to the announcement of the Minister of the Environment, Diana Buzoianu: The filming made by the Environmental Guard can be used as samples in court in cases of illegal burning, pollution or wood theft.
Photo source: gov.ro
In a few hours, hundreds of comments divided the community between enthusiastic and skeptical users. For some, the measure is finally a concrete step in an old fight with the “wood mafia”. For others, it is just another spectacular promise that risks being blocked in the legal harassment.
For example, a user wrote: “This thing had to be done for 10 years, but the mafia is big. The woman really has courage. So yes.” At the same time, however, others put the reflector on less spectacular details: “The drones are approved? How can I demonstrate on a filming that a burning is illegal and comes from a certain place without metric accuracy?”
This type of reactions shows where the real stake is: not in ads, but in the ability to build a solid legal framework, which will withstand a well -trained lawyer.
GPS, telemetry and positioning errors
But beyond enthusiasm, uncomfortable questions also appeared on the forums. “It sounds good, but how do you demonstrate under the crown the lack of one or more x-shaped trees? What kind of pollution do we refer to? How can I look on a drone filming is illegal and comes from a certain place without metric accuracy? What antitampering solutions are used? the alifii ”, wrote a user.
Someone else tried to answer: “You have all the telemetry of the logged flight. For any time you have time, altitude, GPS position, direction.” The replica did not leave expected: “I can prove to you with arithmetic in your hand that you do not take into account vibration, lag, GPS positioning error, which can take you to 50 meters error. And then X can say: I was a barbecue with friends. Tell me it is not!
Beyond technology, is there a major legal problem: how solid are these evidence in court? In other fields, from Police to DNA, video recordings are accepted, but provided clear custody chains and checks to ensure that the images have not been altered. If the Drones of the Environmental Guard are not accompanied by strict procedures, the risk is for everything to get stuck in the first court.
“Until someone attacks CCR or ICCJ and says that the Environmental Guard has no work in files, like SRI or DGA”, Ironically commented on a user.
Others have been amused copiously on the subject: “A new era comes, Kamikaze pigeons will appear to attack the drones! ”.
Promises and expectations
The measure announced by the Ministry of the Environment comes against the background of an increasing public pressure. For years, NGOs and journalists have documents illegal burns and forest cuts with the help of drones, but the images often remained simple visual evidence in the public space, not legal tools.
The fact that these filming now could enter the criminal files increase the expectations of people. But the experience of the last decades shows that there is a huge gap between theory and application.
Romanians on R/Romania perfectly reflect this ambivalence: on the one hand, the desire for the state to use the technology to catch those who pollute and the wooden thieves; On the other hand, the belief that the legal system can always find a portion to cancel the effort.
“The idea is probably good, but why the emergency ordinance? Why can't we be a normal country and discuss the laws in Parliament?”added a user. Another, resigned wrote: “It sounds good in theory … but I wait to see the results.”
The problem is all the more urgent as official reports show that traffic generates over 60% of air pollution in the capital, and illegal burning of waste from neighboring communes adds dangerous particles. In many neighborhoods, the legal limits of pollutants are frequently exceeded, and the hot summers favor the photochemical smog. The report “The state of the environment in Bucharest” shows that the city has lost hundreds of hectares of green spaces since 1990 and has three times fewer trees than the European Union recommends.
The government approves the reorganization of the National Environmental Guard
We recall that the Government adopted the decision to reorganize the National Environmental Guard (GNM), at the proposal of the Ministry of Environment led by Diana Buzoianu. The new structure involves reducing the number of management positions and increasing the operative herds, together with the endowment of the commissioners with modern equipment purchased by PNRR.
Specifically, the number of management positions decreases from 72 to 64, and that of the state -in -laws from 3 to 2. In contrast, 150 new commissioners will be employed that will act directly on the ground.
Modernization includes 709 video cameras worn on the body (bodycams), 16 drones, 271 video cameras, 8 truck scanning systems, 16 special intervention vehicles and 43 additional vehicles.
“We will intervene faster and more efficiently in border points and in areas with high ecological risk, having both the human strength and the technology needed to act without delay. The immediate result will be an increase in the application of sanctions, and, in the medium term, a visible reduction of pollution and the offense of the environment. Economics: The law applies without exceptions, and video and photo tests are undeniable ”, said Diana Buzoianu.
According to the Minister of the Environment, the decision establishes the legal framework for the images obtained with drones and video cameras to be used as means of proof in the application of sanctions. “Romania has firm obligations in the process of accession to the OECD, and the strengthening of the institutional capacity of the National Environmental Guard is a central objective in this approach”added Buzoianu.
