police drones

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has released its report on a 2021 collision between a Cessna 172N plane approaching the Toronto area’s Buttonville Municipal Airport and a police drone operating in the restricted airspace without the required waiver – an incident that sparked controversy when it belatedly became public.

The payloads carried by UAVs are as diverse in application as they are varied in size. But arguably nothing quite as weighty has yet been loaded onto drones as the responsibility the next sheriff of Las Vegas wants to give them in aiding police battle the city’s violent crimes.

British Transport Police are teaming up with Network Rail – the owner and operator of most of the UK’s train infrastructure – in deploying drones to combat what has become a very time- and money-consuming problem in recent years: delays due to trespassers on or around tracks.

Law enforcement agencies have been among the many public service and business entities that have used drones to improve their operations, but police in Pittsburgh are reportedly still sitting on a $62,000 unused UAV investment due to concerns about negative public reaction to the craft.

Step aside Blue Thunder, the law enforcement future belongs to UAVs. That, in any case, is what one Ohio police force has decided in swapping its helicopters for what its leader says are more affordable, effective, and quieter drones.

Ireland is expected to hear debate later this year on proposed legislation that would allow the nation’s police force, An Garda Síochána, expanded use of drones for surveillance and other missions that critics claim pose data use and personal privacy risks.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) will be deploying specialized drones to protect next month’s Commonwealth Games against potential Russian attacks, in what officials fear could be retaliatory action against London’s staunch support of Ukraine amid Moscow’s continuing invasion.

Drug traffickers accustomed to exploiting Ireland’s enormous coastline and limited naval resources to police it are set to soon find their work complicated by the deployment of drones equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) peering down from on high.

In a recent enforcement effort, the Connecticut State Police (CSP) used drones to catch truckers suspected of transporting “harmful devices and materials.”

The shooting of five Arizona police officers by an assailant barricaded in a house have prompted renewed calls from officials in Phoenix to equip law enforcement forces with drones, whose remote surveillance capabilities can inform cops of hidden dangers facing them.

More countries are looking to follow the lead of UK cities that have deployed drones in an effort to identify, punish, and ultimately deter people responsible the surging problem of illegal dumping in public areas.

French police will again be permitted to use drones for surveillance and certain other law enforcement purposes, the nation’s constitutional authority has ruled, ending the nearly two-year legal ban of that activity on grounds it posed privacy violation risks.

The Dallas Police Department has said it will be increasing its use of drones in response to certain emergencies and criminal situations, as well as in investigations of open cases.

During a search operation in the Oxfordshire countryside, a UK police drone lost connection with the controller and was found miles away in a children’s playground the next day, a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has found.

Police officials in the Pacific island nation of Fiji are fighting mad over a downed surveillance drone they say was put out of commission by a jamming device used by illegal pot farmers – not coincidentally because it was looking for signs of illegal pot farming.

A pair of draft bills introduced to Ohio’s legislature outlines restrictions for drone flights by both private individuals and police forces in what, if passed, would be the state’s first laws regulating operation beyond Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines.

The Dallas Police Department is under intense scrutiny after a security breach allowed over 600 hours of aerial surveillance video to be published on a privacy activist website – footage from helicopters that quickly led many suspicious observers turn their gazes toward drones.

Cops in the eastern England city of Norfolk have gotten with the aerial tech program in a big way. After introducing drones into its operational assets less than three years ago, Norfolk’s police force deployed the craft in nearly 1,500 missions in the past year.

Chula Vista, the second-largest city in San Diego County, California, uses drones as “first responders.” The flying robots are often the first to arrive on the scene when an incident is reported, and play an instrumental role in catching criminals or assisting detentions. And to make sure that citizens retain their trust in these drones, Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) gives residents the ability to view the exact location, flight path, and purpose of each police drone deployment.

The Welsh coppers at the sticks have really hit the, er, air soaring. The recently formed North Wales Police drone unit has racked up a series of successful operations that has earned them plaudits from the region’s top law enforcement official as “high-flying heroes.” 

After 16 hours of being missing, a 72-year-old man was found crouched in a fetal position in thick vegetation by the Pueblo Police Department in Colorado. The essential element that led to the missing man’s discovery? A DJI Mavic 2 drone.