Hunt announces funding for police to use drones as ‘first responders’

Drones will increasingly be used as “first responders” when members of the public report incidents to emergency services, under plans announced by the chancellor in the spring budget on Wednesday.

Jeremy Hunt told MPs that £230m would be set aside for police to spend on “time and money-saving technology” such as unmanned aerial vehicles and video technology.

It is hoped the drones will provide accurate information about the potential scale of incidents reported by members of the public who call 999.

Civil liberties groups are expected to question the increased use of drones in law and order areas. In the US, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has expressed concerns they could be used to target poor and marginalized communities.

The police chief announced plans in November to trial the use of drones as first responders at emergency scenes, with the first trial to take place in Norfolk under the name Project Eagle X.

Further trials are planned for Thames Valley and Hampshire police forces. If the tests are successful, the devices will be stationed on buildings and dispatched to crime and accident scenes, where they will be operated remotely.

Norfolk has restricted the use of State Police Air Service helicopters. Currently, their forces use approximately 400 drones; however, they cannot fly beyond the operator’s line of sight.

There are plans to amend the rules to allow police operators to fly the aircraft beyond their sight, with initial trials set to take place in areas with closed airspace later this year.

Alan Pughsley, who is involved in the national review of police productivity commissioned by the Home Office, said technological advances could help with tasks including editing documents used in court and rapid video response, where police use video calls with families Talk to victims of violence, not listen. personally.

Pughsley said: “We are delighted that the work of our independent teams has highlighted the huge time savings that can be made through better use of technology; time that could be spent dealing with more burglaries, more domestic abuse cases, more anti-social behavioral events.

“The Police Productivity Review found that technology can speed up existing tasks… and provide a less resource-intensive way of delivering services.

“Around 97% of technology investment in policing today goes into maintaining existing systems. There needs to be a balance between ensuring these tools are fit for purpose and taking full advantage of new innovations.

“Police services cannot afford to lag behind in this area, which is why today’s funding announcement is so important.”

Funding for the drones is part of an increase in police technology spending announced by the chancellor, but is not enough to provide the additional funding the chief constable has deemed vital to delivering a “stable service”.

Police chiefs complain they don’t have a dedicated budget to buy new technology and are struggling to find funds from existing budget constraints. The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) estimates police funding is £3 billion less than needed.

Gavin Stephens, chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, told the Guardian in January that policing was still suffering the damage of austerity.

“The reason we haven’t fully recovered yet is when you look at the underlying financial resilience, it’s difficult.

“[There has been] Borrowing increased by £1 billion because we did not receive any capital grants to invest in our infrastructure; reserves fell by £1 billion; savings of £1.2 billion remain to make up for this. These savings come primarily from fellow police officers. The result is a cash deficit of £3.2bn. That’s why we have stable service today. “

The chancellor also said £170m would be used to fund “non-court solutions, reduce re-offending and digitize court processes”.

He pledged to spend a further £75 million to establish violence reduction units and hotspot policing across the country.

Mr Hunt said the spending review would prioritize plans to achieve annual savings equal to the total cost of the measure over the next five years.