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There are 900 police drone pilots in the UK but there are no national standards for how they operate. Stuart Lawless, NPCC operational lead for drones, shares the plans for getting consistency and the drive for innovation to make the most of this technology.
In focus:Drones
As drone technology develops, the focus is changing beyond just providing situational awareness. Find out more from our blue light experts.
There are 900 police drone pilots in the UK but there are no national standards for how they operate. Stuart Lawless, NPCC operational lead for drones, shares the plans for getting consistency and the drive for innovation to make the most of this technology.
Emily shares how Leicestershire Search and Rescue is evolving its use of drones to help even when the weather is at its worst.
Tony Liparoti shares how London Search and Rescue is using drones o assist the Met Police in finding vulnerable missing people in the capital.
Emergency service use of drones is developing all the time. Hear more from some of our experts who were at The Emergency Services Show 2023.
Tim Murrell, NFCC drones lead, provides an update on work the fire and rescue service is doing to evolve use of drones and robotics to improve firefighter safety. Addressing privacy and safety concerns of the public is also critical to the successful deployment of this technology.
Firefighters from Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service have completed specialist drone training, expanding the service’s operational capabilities and strengthening its response to incidents across the county.
As drones and robotics become more embedded in emergency response, the challenge is no longer what the technology can do, but how it is used safely and effectively. Events like The Emergency Services Show and The Emergency Tech Show are bringing together the people, policy and practice needed to make that happen.
Police drones operated remotely from Birmingham are now flying over Coventry as part of a national programme aimed at improving response times, situational awareness and officer safety.
From watching wildfires threaten his home in Greece to leading a global AI drone project, Georgios Tzoumas explains how lived experience, firefighting insight and swarm robotics are coming together to help detect and manage wildfires before they turn catastrophic.
The Welsh Ambulance Service has used its new drone for the first time, enhancing its ability to locate casualties quickly in challenging environments.
In a For Every Response episode recorded at The Emergency Tech Show 2025, regulators and technologists explain how drone operations are evolving for emergency services.
The Metropolitan Police Service has launched a new trial that will see drones deployed to incidents to support frontline officers responding to emergencies.
A new research project will test how drones could be integrated into the UK’s 999 emergency response system to rapidly deliver defibrillators to people experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).
The Welsh Ambulance Service is to begin using remotely operated drones to survey the scenes of hazardous and challenging incidents.
August saw the latest trial in drone as first responder technology with a team from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary and Thames Valley Police Joint Operations Unit demonstrating its capabilities against challenging weather conditions at the Victorious Music Festival in Portsmouth.