Lavington homeowners wonder why a drone was visiting at 4 a.m.
A Lavington couple can’t think of any comforting reasons as to why a drone would have been creeping around their home in the middle of the night last weekend.
A motion-activated surveillance camera at the home of James and Sabrina Hamilton was triggered when a drone wandered into their property at 4 a.m. on June 23.
“It’s unsettling, there’s no reason to be flying something that presumably has a camera around a stranger’s house, especially at that hour,” James said.
If the drone was being piloted by some bored teenagers then James won’t consider it to be a serious concern, but he doubts teenagers would be creeping around at 4 a.m. And Lavington is a small community – he describes is as tight-knit and says he doesn’t know of anybody nearby who owns a drone.
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In the darkness of night, the drone’s two lights can initially be mistaken for a pair of eyes. But after watching its flight pattern it becomes clear that it’s not a person or wildlife. When Sabrina first watched the surveillance footage and came to that realization, she remembers instantly feeling uneasy.
“I immediately felt panicked and invaded,” Sabrina said. “Like, who wants to look in? Who wants to check on me?”
Sabrina asked her neighbours if they knew anything or saw anything on their cameras. She also phoned the RCMP’s non-emergency line to tell explain what happened, but she didn’t get the impression that the dispatcher shared the same level of concern.
The Hamiltons don’t feel like there are many options to prevent unwanted drones from creeping on them again.
Vernon RCMP did not respond to a request for information before publication.
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