Back in February, I launched a survey to hear from residents in Conisbrough and Denaby about their concerns with off-road biking. This led to a walkabout with South Yorkshire Police officers who spoke about the support drones can provide to the off-road biking team.
Following this, I met virtually with SYP’s drone leads to learn more about drone capabilities in supporting frontline policing and the Drone as a First Responder (DFR) programme. DFR gives police forces the ability to deploy a drone to an incident faster than officers, which provides real-time information to control rooms, helping police make faster and more informed decisions about resource deployment.
Since then, I have written to the Home Office to highlight the role of drones in modern policing and to seek further information on how the Government plans to support the continued rollout of DFR technology across police forces nationwide.
Today, I visited SYP’s Operations Complex to discuss drones further and to see drone capabilities first-hand. Ollie, who has joined my office for work experience this week, had the opportunity to operate one of the drones (under close supervision!) and learn more about the technology behind this new type of policing.
I will continue to champion the wider use of drones in policing, having seen the significant benefits they bring to South Yorkshire Police.