Eight more Tasmania Police officers have been trained and certified by CASA to fly remotely piloted aircraft systems, bringing the total to 29 (26 police officers and three State Service employees).
The new pilots will be based at Burnie, Devonport, Launceston, Marine and Rescue Services, Sorell and the greater Hobart area.
Tasmania Police has been using drones since mid-July 2019 and in that time has carried out more than 680 aerial support operations state-wide using the technology.
“There have been a number of successes across Tasmania where offenders in stolen and evading vehicles have been apprehended with drone support, and a number of stolen vehicles have been located in bushland by using drones,” said Jacquie Petrusma, Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management.
Crash Investigators also use data from drones in the reconstruction of crash scenes and for calculating vehicle speeds.
The state government says it has invested $400,000 since 2018 for the purpose of enabling drone technology to assist Tasmania Police officers in their operational activities.
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