Civilian drone project to help fight rural crime

A drone project working to prevent rural crime has been launched in Hampshire.

Civilian volunteers will be able to be deployed by officers to incidents using the GoodSAM app, with video footage from their drones accessible in real time by the control room using Starlink.

The project is believed to be the "first of its kind" in the country and, if successful, it is hoped it could be rolled out nationally.

Inspector Stuart Ross said the project would be "a real game changer" in tackling rural crime.

Hampshire Police estimates that the cost of rural crime in the county is in excess of £100m a year.

This can include acts like hare coursing, poaching and burglaries, which can often go unreported.

With the new pilot scheme, when someone calls 999 control room staff can choose to send an alert to volunteers to tell them there is an ongoing live incident in their area.

They can then accept or decline the request to support police using their drone.

Insp Ross said: "Utilising volunteers that are going to help us get to incidents more quickly, gather evidence and share information - that is key.

"Those are areas that we have not done quite so well in in the past and by doing this, we believe we can be more effective in what we do to in bringing rural criminals to justice."

It is hoped the small group of volunteers, who must pass a bespoke course to be deployable, will increase as the project develops.

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