The North Bay Police Service will soon be using aerial drones.
Members of the police service recently completed a drone pilot course for law enforcement, with five drones recently purchased.
Police say the equipment will augment its law enforcement and search and rescue capabilities and will be used in a variety of ways.
“Use of aerial drones is a major step that will improve our service delivery, keep our community and officers safer, help us in the location of missing persons, and allow us to offer more specialized services,” says Scott Todd, Police Chief. “I am very glad we have taken this important step towards a full rollout of drones in early 2023.”
Officials say smaller drones can be used by the Emergency Response Team to fly indoors, enhancing officer safety and increasing the range of visual observations.
They say the drones can also make it easier to gather evidence, providing the forensics team with greater vantage points for crime scene photos or collision scene reconstruction.
The police service also has a larger drone with a thermal camera that can fly in certain unfavourable conditions and assist with searches for missing persons or suspects in difficult terrain.
Police also point out that use of the drones is limited under existing regulations and case law.
The service says it cannot use them to observe the interior of a residence for which a search warrant has not been granted by a judge.
