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| Dubbed The Flying Pasty, the new £3k Police UAV |
Devon and Cornwall Police are to launch the very first 24-hour drone unit in the UK. The 'flying pasty patrol' as its been dubbed, will assist ground patrol police officers with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) equipped with cameras both still and live HD video streaming from this summer. Helping with investigations, by aerial rapid sweep searching for missing people and collecting photographic evidence by taking photographs of crime scenes. It could also at a stretch pick up essential supplies for distant search teams, and relay real-time images.
Devon and Cornwall Police, started trialling UAV's with a small number of DJI Inspire 1 drones costing less than £3,000 each in November 2015, and will share the unit with neighbouring Dorset. They are currently looking to recruit a “drone team manager” to handle operations across nine stations in the three counties.
“I would not be at all surprised if other forces follow in due course – the question is not whether they will, it's when,” Assistant Chief Constable Steve Barry, National Police Chiefs' Council lead for drones, told the Daily Mail.
“There may be an opportunity at some point in the future to rationalise what we need our cops to do because we find drones can do it more effectively and more cost-efficiently… an example of that would be looking for missing people.”
Other police forces across the UK are said to be planning to make more use of UAV's, which has led to speculation about potential job cuts.
“I think it's a brave senior officer who will make that step that is going to cut cops because they have now got drones,” continued Mr Barry.
JULIAN BRAY +44(0)1733 345581, Journalist & Broadcaster, Aviation Security & Airline Operations Analyst/expert, www.freelancedirectory.org?name=Julian.Bray.aviation.comment Travel / Maritime & Cruise Industry, NUJ, EQUITY, LIVE ISDN LINK, Broadcast ISDN COOBE ++44 (0)1733 345020 e&oe Old faithful NOKIA: 07944 217476 www.aviationcomment.com
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