Thames Valley Police running drone pilot scheme in August

The 'proof of concept' trial will see drones being utilised in a number of reactive and pre-planned situations.

Thames Valley Police is taking part in the trial alongside Hampshire Constabulary and each force will have three drones at their disposal during the trial.

Another 34 drone operators have been trained across the force areas while a further drone has been purchased for training purposes.

The drones can be used in a variety of incidents such as searching for missing people, responding to major incidents, capturing aerial crime scene imagery, at road traffic collisions, large public events and other policing operations.

The drones are made by Yuneec and are a six engine model with high definition, optical and thermal imaging cameras and flown up to a maximum height of 400 feet as per CAA Regulations.

Members of the public will see drones in use from the middle of August when the pilot scheme goes operational for the Thames Valley.

Assistant Chief Constable David Hardcastle said: “We are launching a proof of concept to look at the effectiveness of using drones as an operational tactic for officers in the two forces.

“We will look at how drones can assist in a variety of overt policing situations with a view to rolling out the use of drones in both forces permanently, should the pilot be a success.

“This is an exciting opportunity for both forces, which will mean officers can get an aerial view of large areas in short periods of time, so their use should really assist with finding offenders suspected of crime or disorder and, missing people in large open expanses or wooded areas, providing live feeds for officers at major incidents or football games and protests and many other applications.

“Both Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary are committed to using technology to fight crime and make the public safer and hopefully the use of drones will be another tool available to do this.”