The unfortunate teenager called 999 asserting her “attacker” was still around but she didn’t know her whereabouts
The police used a drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera to track down a girl who had contacted them saying that she had been raped and her attacker was still around her but she did not know where they were.
Lincolnshire Police said the drone was used to find the teenager and get her rescued within a matter of few minutes.
A spokesperson said that the vulnerable girl had called 999 on Saturday morning from the Brown’s Road area of Boston, Lincolnshire.
She was not able to tell her location but described that her attacker was still around her in the forsaken industrial complex surrounded by an 8ft high fence.
The police then traced the 16 year old girl out thanks to their drone and rescued her.
The Police said in a statement that the girl was located with a man in his thirties who was immediately arrested.
The spokesperson said that officers from the Emerald Team, who are specifically trained to support victims of rape and sexual assault were supporting the victim.
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British Law Enforcement Agencies Among Early Adopters of Drone Technology
The incident portrays that the British Police are among one of the more avid adopters of drone technology; though there have been a few voices raised against this move as they claim this to be an attempt to create a surveillance state.
Way back in 2006, Merseyside Police was planning to use drones to hover over problem estates. One of the senior officials even went onto suggest that the use of drones was financially viable in contrast to using the force helicopter for aerial surveillance and evidence gathering.
The first specialist police drone unit consisting of a fleet of six drones integrated with HD and thermal imaging cameras was established by the Dorset and Devon and Cornwall forces in June, 2017.
By the summer of 2018, according to a local newspaper, 31 out of Britain’s 45 police forces owned or had access to drone technology. As matter of fact, numerous officers have undertaken Civil Aviation Authority training to control the small unmanned aircraft systems.
Drones monitoring officer safety and escape routes
Those who support the use of drones in law enforcement highlight the way they have been used to track officer security and potential suspect escape routes during raids against criminal elements.
A dedicated Twitter account exists for the Lincolnshire Police drones unit. The unit claims that they were able to successfully trace a high risk dementia patient at night using thermal imaging and also assisted in saving life of a motorist suffering from hypothermia after his car crashed on a cold winter night.
