Police Drones Multiply Across the Globe

Last week, we reminded readers of American police agencies’ “bromance” with drones. However, the infatuation with UAVs is not bound by borders. Here’s a roundup of police drone reports from around the world.

Czech Republic

Czech national police are testing drones across several regions and hope to get authorization to monitor public gatherings and surveil areas with rough, unreachable terrain, according to the Prague Monitor.

So far, officers are training with nine UAVs and have used them to patrol the southern borders in pursuit of illegal immigrants. Until Czech officials can develop rules for drone flights, police will be prohibited from flying over inhabited areas for now.

“Under the current legislation, permission for flying a police unmanned vehicle cannot be granted. Such vehicles were not available at the time of the passage of the law,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Hana Mala said in a statement.

“Drones have a better view of the road than a patrol in a police car. Though the drones are not allowed to fly directly above roads at present, they can fly above fields along the road,” Pardubice Regional police officer Petr Voldan said.

Ukraine

Police in western Ukraine battled illegal amber miners in the Rivne region and successfully located the suspects after deploying three drones.

Although the mineral poachers managed to shoot down two of the UAVs, a third captured video of the miners trying to illegally dig up the valuable mineral. The drone quickly found illicit equipment which the police confiscated after arresting the suspects.

“We have previously determined it is impossible to reach the so-called mines without special transport means,” Rivne Police Chief Serhiy Knyazev said in a statement (translated). “We concluded they possess a kind of demilitarized war equipment to travel around the swampy territories.”

Isle of Man

On the Isle of Man, police trialed drones during the annual Festival of Motorcycling to keep an eye on traffic and the Office of the Constable hopes to deploy the aircraft to chase suspects and find missing people.

“If we have a complex and dispersed crime scene a drone would help command and control that event,” said Manx Chief Constable Gary Roberts said.