Drones are to be used as first responders to police emergencies under a trial being run next year.

The initial pilot will be held in Norfolk, which has limited access to the helicopters flown by the National Police Air Service (NPAS) because they are based so far away.

If testing is successful, the devices would be stationed on buildings and operated remotely to be sent first to scenes to give police early information about the situation on the ground.

Trials are also planned by the Thames Valley and Hampshire forces.

Police have been working with law enforcement counterparts in the US, where drones as first responders (DFR) have been tried out in San Diego.

Belgium and the Netherlands are set to hold pilots.

Neil Sexton, who advises the National Police Chiefs’ Council on the use of drones, said: “DFR is a drone that sits autonomously on a roof somewhere in a city, and it’s in a box, it’s protected.

“From a control station that receives a 999 call it can be launched completely remotely, flying overhead an incident to gain situational awareness that will be fed back not just to that control station or control room, but also to the first responders who are about to arrive on the ground.”

The aim is the drone would give more accurate information on the potential scale of an incident than a potentially shocked member of the public who has called 999, and arrive at the scene much quicker than a helicopter.

Currently, police forces in England and Wales use about 400 drones that cannot be flown out of the operator’s line of sight.

Plans are in place to change those rules to allow police operators to do so, with initial trials taking place in areas with closed-off airspace next year.

An increased role for drones is also being pushed for by police and crime commissioners.

Currently, all forces pay to fund the NPAS at a cost of more than £40m a year.

Earlier this week, chairwoman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners Donna Jones said helicopters could be “incredibly expensive” and drones are “much quicker” and “more agile”.

“The technology now is improving incredibly, and police and crime commissioners have been pushing strongly to the Home Office that drones should be a very viable alternative,” she added.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

Forces are also proposing much wider use of retrospective facial recognition technology.

The biometric software, hailed as significant a step forward for policing as DNA analysis, is used to compare images from sources such as CCTV with force mugshot databases.

Britain’s largest police force, the Met, has already said it will use the software to catch prolific shoplifters.

South Wales Police, one of the forces to pioneer use of live and retrospective facial recognition, is also piloting an app that allows officers to take a photo of a suspect and compare it to the force’s computer records.

If the test is successful, the system could be rolled out across England and Wales.

Related posts:

‘We stand with you Marcus’: Hundreds of messages of support cover vandalised Rashford mural The Queen uses walking stick again as she visit Wales for first time in five years ‘Hero’ taxi driver David Perry – who survived Liverpool blast – out of hospital and back at home Storm Eunice clean-up may be disrupted by further strong winds in parts of UK, Met Office says Future of Tory MP hangs in balance over ‘drunken groping’ claim Number of people with COVID in UK rises 32% to almost 2.3 million Third man arrested on suspicion of murder over missing student nurse Ex-Met boss Cressida Dick ‘may have breached standards’ in case of murdered private eye Man who murdered mother-of-two in axe attack jailed for life Premier League footballer accused of rape is now being investigated on suspicion of third sexual offence Teachers in Wales accept new pay offer ending dispute Football cannot resist being political – until it becomes too challenging