Budget supports police plan for drones to be first responders in emergencies

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Police use of drones as first responders was one of the most striking measures that will affect law enforcement in the budget.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said he would prioritize projects that will save money over the next five years, pledging £230 million for new technologies including increased use of video calls and drones.

Plans for trials where drones are used as first responders at the scene of emergencies were unveiled by police chiefs in November, with the first tests expected be carried out in Norfolk in the coming months.

If the tests are successful, the devices would be stationed on buildings and operated remotely to be sent first to the scene to provide early information to police.< /p>

While the first trials, under a project called Project Eagle X, will take place in Norfolk, further trials are planned for Thames Valley Police and Hampshire.

< p>Norfolk is one of the forces in England and Wales that has limited access to helicopters flown by the National Police Air Service because they are stationed very far away.

Norfolk Police England and Wales is working with officers from the United States, similar trials have taken place in San Diego.

We hope the drone will provide more precise information on the potential scale of an incident that a shocked member of the public who called 999 and got through. faster than a helicopter.

Currently, police forces in England and Wales use around 400 drones which cannot be flown out of the operator's field of vision.

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Plans are in place to change these rules to allow police operators to do so, with initial trials taking place in areas with closed airspace later this year.

Alan Pughsley, who worked on a national study commissioned by the Home Office into police productivity, said technological advances could make tasks such as drafting documents for use in court and rapid video responding easier. , where officers speak to victims via video call instead of attending in person.

He said: “We are pleased that the work of our independent team has highlighted the huge time savings which could be achieved through better use of technology; time that could be spent on more burglaries, more domestic violence, more incidents of anti-social behavior...