An unmanned aircraft once hailed by police as the future of crime-fighting has been declared ‘lost at sea’ after crashing in to the River Mersey.
And police chiefs have decided to abandon the use of the technology – as they can no longer afford to replace it. The aircraft was launched in Liverpool four years ago with high expectation for its ability to monitor crowds and hunt down fugitives. But now it lies at the bottom of the river after going AWOL during a training day at a police social club
Police lost control of the £13,000 unmanned aircraft while operating it from the Riversdale Police Social Club, in a Liverpool suburb, on a ‘routine training exercise’. When bosses spoke to officers after the incident, those involved in the expensive blunder were ‘given advice’ – police jargon for a dressing-down.
Police were using the machine on the force’s playing field, just 500 yards from the Mersey, when it lost battery power while it was high up in the air. It tried to perform a safety landing in adverse weather conditions, but the craft – which was a long distance from those operating it at the time – crashed into the river. A search was carried out, but the drone was given up for lost.
The force was compensated by insurers for its £13,000 value, but senior officers decided against replacing it due to financial difficulties. Officers have played down this decision – claiming that the aircraft was never as useful as it was supposed to be. A police spokesman said: ‘Initially the force identified the potential benefits of a UAS within operational policing. ‘But during its use officers recognised certain technical and operational issues, including staff training costs and the inability to use it in all weather conditions.’
Merseyside was the first force in the UK to use an unmanned aircraft to carry CCTV cameras to monitor trouble hotspots and film crowds. In February last year, the aircraft celebrated its first arrest, helping to locate a suspected car thief who escaped from a car following a police chase. Its thermal technology was integral in finding the man hiding by a canal in thick fog.
But later that month, police fell foul of the law by using their aircraft without an appropriate licence, and had to take the UAS out of service temporarily.
Source: The Daily Mail