Police

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.

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.

Drones are being deployed in and around the Windsor town center to manage the crowds of thousands of mourners and well-wishers who have gathered outside Windsor Castle following the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

A criminal transport and logistics crew has been nabbed by Spanish police with vehicles being readied for delivery to drug traffickers smuggling narcotics across the Mediterranean – a haul that netted both aerial drones and uncrewed underwater vehicles with potential payload capacities of up to 200 kgs.

In baseball they call it a “rookie error,” though famously salty-tongued Glaswegians are doubtlessly using other terms to describe it. A new cop in Glasgow’s police force called in for backup last week after somehow mistaking the planet Jupiter as a threateningly pursuing drone.

The good folk of Worcester, England, are up in arms – necks craned skyward – about unruly mobs regularly taking over a favorite park. And not just any crowd: groups of drone pilots who occupy certain sections of the area to film horse races at the adjacent track, and feed their video live to betting rings.

Old-school autos got some help from modern air tech – as well as a hot-headed thief – after police used a drone to locate several stolen classic cars. One of two suspects taken into custody failed in his attempts to shoot the police craft down, adding a second thwarted crime to his grand theft auto activity.

Five days of mud, music, and mayhem. This is how Redneck Rave organizers describe what they bill as “America’s wildest and craziest country party.” And with reports of a man’s throat getting slit, a woman being strangled in a fight over a blanket, and a man impaled on a branch, the massive country music festival surely showcased what wild and crazy mayhem can look like.

Additional information has surfaced about the mysterious drone that officials in Tucson described as “highly modified” after it buzzed, then led a border patrol helicopter on a high-speed, hour-long chase before vanishing. A case summary of the incident details airborne police efforts to pursue and unsuccessfully identify the astonishingly powerful craft described as “very sophisticated/specialized and able to perform like no other.”

When Australian officials flew their drone over the Lake Connewarre game reserve, they were looking for hunters violating rules governing Victoria’s duck season. The only activity they deemed illicit, however, involved a group of people hunkered down – and without a requisite permit – to harass the same hunters authorities were checking out.

Police have released drone footage from last weekend showing a massive, illegal street party in the English city of Nottingham. The party got out of control after it was advertised on social media. It ended with the stabbing of a teenager and police officers getting injured as they tried to treat the victim.

Police in the UK raided a building in a West Midlands warehousing zone after readings taken by their drone convinced them a large marijuana farm was inside. Instead they found a massive operation illegally mining Bitcoins.

It may lack the thrill of Pamela Anderson in a red maillot. But police in California think they can stage a water rescue without getting their hair mussed; just let drones be the lifeguards.

The South African police force is making its officers a little more high-tech with access to drones and body cameras to improve safety and collect more evidence in a shorter amount of time. The news comes on the back of the recently announced Easter road safety campaign.

The Milwaukee Sheriff’s department has pitched the idea of a new drone unit to the public in an effort to communicate better how it intends to use the public safety technology. The department will be using a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise drone with a thermal camera, speaker, and mapping capabilities.

Californian police are looking into a drone’s role in a suspected drug dealer’s attempt to deliver heroin to his customers. As the police arrested the suspected drug dealer, he was flying a drone with what is believed to be heroin attached to it.

In Indiana, the Seymour Police Department is looking for the owner and more information on a drone that flew into a girl’s window at her home. The drone was equipped with a camera and was likely recording at the time of the incident.

A wanted Montana man was captured early last month by police with a drone’s help after the man hid from police and cut down a tree to block the road leading to him. The drone was able to take the helicopter’s place and aid in the arrest of the man.

Scottish police chiefs have been slammed earlier this month after purchasing £60,000 ($83,000) on drones that aren’t waterproof. The purchase of multiple DJI Matrice 210 drones was criticized after 16 of them crashed over the last few years during rain-related flights.

Drone training company DARTdrones has partnered with Adorama Business Solutions to give away a DJI Mavic Air 2 to a lucky agency and $100K in free or reduced-cost drone training to public safety agencies.