Drone pilots locate three vulnerable people in 24 hours

Police drone pilots helped to locate three vulnerable people in less than 24 hours.

Officers were first alerted by a member of the public at around 7.15pm on Saturday (13 April) after concerns were raised for the welfare of a man seen wandering in woodland near Shirebrook.

A search of an area near Sookholme Road was started and a drone operator was called in to assist officers on the ground.

Using a high powered thermal imaging camera, the drone operator was able to locate the man within half-an-hour and direct officers on the ground to assist him.

The man was returned home and given appropriate support.

Around 10pm the previous evening (Friday), another drone operator helped to locate two teenagers in the Farnsfield area after concerns were also raised for their safety.

A drone took off from the village cricket club and – again using a thermal imaging camera – located the boys on a footpath to the north of the village.

Both were unharmed.

Sergeant Vince Saunders, chief drone pilot at Nottinghamshire Police, said:

“These were two excellent examples of how we use police drones to locate and safeguard missing or other vulnerable people.

“In situations like these – when we are worried that people could come to imminent harm – we really don’t have time to lose and need to locate people as soon as possible. The most effective way to do that is to use one our police drones, with which we can search very large areas, even in total darkness. The officers in this case did an excellent job and I am pleased we were able to find these people so quickly and get them the help they needed.”