"Not far away, perched 160ft above sea level on the remote edge of the Blackdown Hills, a specially trained police officer is monitoring passing vehicles, not with the naked eye, but with a 30,000 hi-tech drone. PC Tim Brooks sits inside a police van monitoring footage being captured by a drone above the M5 in Devon (The Independent/Alex Ross) Piloted using a handheld remote control pad, big enough to make a gaming aficionado envious,"
"PC Carl Thomas has positioned the four-propeller-powered drone 107 metres above the motorway, capturing footage of the traffic going north. The camera is so good that the former firearms officer can read number plates from as far as 2km away. We are the eye in the sky, says his colleague and fellow pilot, PC Tim Brooks, with a smile. The pair are one of three drone teams within Devon and Cornwall Police, the first force in the country to set up a dedicated unit,"
A bright midweek morning finds motorists on the M5 driving through rolling Devon countryside unaware of aerial monitoring. A specially trained officer operates a 30,000 hi-tech drone from the Blackdown Hills while colleagues monitor footage from a police van. The drone hovers about 107 metres above the motorway and the camera can read number plates from as far as 2km. Three dedicated drone teams assist with missing persons, police chases and animal rescues. Teams are currently working with ground officers to tackle organised gangs stealing farm machinery, tractors and quad bikes. NFU Mutual data shows rural crime claims rose 60% to £1.6m in 2024, and force intelligence suggests some stolen goods are being taken to ports to ship abroad, transported on motorways.
Read at www.independent.co.uk
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