Record year for Nottinghamshire Police's crime-fighting drones team

The team, founded in January 2020, deployed more than 1,100 times to support operations around the county, clocking up about 550 hours of flight time in the process.

With the aid of high-powered cameras and thermal imaging capabilities, the team was able to track down criminal suspects on 43 occasions, including two suspected vandals hiding in a back garden, a wanted man hiding in a caravan, and a trio of suspected thieves hiding in woodland, as well as 12 missing people.

The team, based at police HQ, provides 24/7 cover for emergency deployments and operators also on hand to support pre-planned operations such as drugs warrants and arrest attempts.

Sergeant Vince Saunders, Nottinghamshire Police chief drone pilot , said: “From farming to film-making, new applications for these small and inexpensive aircraft are being developed all the time – and the same is true in policing.

“We’ve had access to helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft for a long time, but these are an expensive resource and are shared by police forces across the region.

“Our drones give us a cheap and readily available option to get a 3D view of almost any situation and the results speak for themselves. Suspects who try to run have nowhere to hide and the lives of missing people can and have been saved by a drone deployment.

“The exciting thing is this is a technology developing all the time, giving us additional options for how to use it.”