Drones (984A/21)
Request
- Crime statistics before and after the implementation of drones
- Any information of the effectiveness of the use of drones
- Information on how often drones are used and what they are used for
- The costings of using drones
- Specific cases where drones have been used
- Exactly where drones are operating
- What boundaries do you have in place when using drones, if any
Response
- No information held – We do not hold any specific crime statistics with regard to the pre and post implementation of the drones and therefore are unable to provide any information in relation to this question.
- We are still at the beginning of our journey, drones are being used more frequently, providing Air Support at incidents that historically the helicopter may have been utilised. Drones are a cheaper option to the helicopter and are far more environmentally friendly.
- We’re using drones as a tactic to target criminals and help keep the public safe. Drones will be used to help give officers a mobile eye in the sky, meaning we can scan large areas in a very short time. Examples where we use drones include filming crime scenes, providing live feeds direct from major incidents or football games and protests. We also use them to hunt for criminals in large, hard to reach areas like parkland, canal and tow paths, as well as to help in missing person searches.
- Funds through the Asset Recovery Fund paid for our 10 drones, and for our 32 pilots to be trained. Our drones cost between £2,000 and £20,000.
- Drones are used daily supporting frontline policing and a number of our recent deployments can be viewed on our twitter page @dronesWMP
- Drones are used across the whole of the West Midlands Police force area and in other force areas on Mutual Aid deployments.
- We hold a CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) PfCO which is our Permission to Fly Commercially and are bound by the restrictions held within. (details can be found on CAA/Drones website).
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