Drone technology assists London police in monitoring and locating. The use of drones improves the effectiveness of interventions.
The London Police has launched a project in which it sends drones to support police officers responding to emergency situations. Drones can send crime scene footage to responding police officers, helping them identify and locate suspects. TASR informs about this according to a Reuters report and a statement by the London police published on its website.
“As part of a response to a 999 emergency call, the drone will be launched remotely from the police operations room and will be flown by specially trained operators,” police said. The drones will arrive at the crime scene within two minutes and will broadcast high-quality footage from there, assisting police officers in the field and in the control room.
Drones will thus quickly provide information, for example, about suspects – their location or appearance. “This will help officers catch criminals and stop them from causing further damage to communities,” police said.
Drones will have multiple uses
Among other things, the police will use drones to search for missing persons or suspects, or to display the crime scene before the police arrive. Drone footage will be transmitted to the control room or to police officers via mobile devices.
The project called “Drone as a first responder” was launched in the North London district of Islington. The Metropolitan Police plans to expand this project to two more areas in London – the West End and Hyde Park – by the end of the year. Other police forces in Britain are currently testing the use of drones.
Drones are stored on the roofs of police buildings in special boxes, where they are charged and await the command to launch. The operations room of the Metropolitan Police will decide on the deployment of a drone, which will be remotely launched to the scene of the incident. After the intervention, the drone returns, the special box is closed so that the drone is charged and ready for the next mission. Reuters reports that drones are also being tested for other uses. Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority last year selected six projects to test the use of drones in parcel delivery and infrastructure inspections.
