A new Scotland Yard trial will see drones launched remotely in London to support police officers responding to 999 calls, solving crime and locating fugitives.
The aircraft can arrive at an emergency in just two minutes and from there stream live footage back to trained operators in a control room.
The Metropolitan Police said drones will be used for a variety of incidents, including searching for missing people, tracing suspects or capturing evidence at the scene of an incident quicker.
The project has initially started in Islington with the aim of rolling it out to the West End and Hyde Park before December.
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor believes the technology can be quicker, quieter, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than existing police helicopters, while delivering the same operational effects.
The national lead for drones said: “We are building a Met that is more precise and efficient than ever before, and this new technology gives us a vital new tool to tackle crime in the capital.”
He added: “Aerial support to policing has always added huge value, because it gives us the ability to make informed decisions about deployment and look for people – that is a lot harder to do on the ground.
“By getting that immediate response with a drone, we’re going to have more precise information, we’re capturing best evidence at the very earliest opportunity, but most importantly, where scenes are chaotic or witnesses are confused, it allows us to inform our own decisions about how many officers, which assets we should deploy, and critically, if suspects or offenders are making away from the scene, we can quickly identify them and bring them into custody without the need for large, expansive area searches.”
AC Taylor also said drones traditionally are piloted by an individual who always has to be able to see that drone and watch it flying, but these “will fly autonomously by itself to a scene”.
This new pilot, known as Drone as First Responder, is being introduced across the capital under a National Police Chiefs’ Council’s programme.
The devices are housed in special boxes on the roofs of selected police buildings, where they sit charging and waiting for a call to launch, the Met said.
Control room staff make the decision to deploy and it will be remotely launched to the incident.
Once overhead a scene, the drone’s imagery will be transmitted in real-time to the specific control room or mobile user, supporting the police response and recording footage for evidence.
At the end of the deployment, the drone will return to its landing area and the weather-proof box will close so it can be charged and prepared for its next mission.
Other police forces - such as Norfolk, Cleveland Police, West Midlands, Hampshire & Isle of Wight and Thames Valley - are also in the trial phase of this technology, which has been pioneered by the NPCC.
