Unmanned aircraft could be on the cards for Far North Queensland police
GRACE UHR, THE CAIRNS POST
UNMANNED aircraft could be the solution to costly, resource-heavy search and rescue operations that kept Far North police busy for days at a time, a Cairns police officer said.
Sergeant Peter Blake recently spent several weeks getting up close and personal with unmanned aerial vehicles around the world, working with the FBI as it tracked drug traffickers across the US-Mexico border and seeing how Canadian police used them to map accident and crime scenes.
Sgt Blake took the trip after becoming one of two Cairns-based police to be granted a Churchill Fellowship.
He said the technology was the next frontier for Australian law enforcement and the Far North would be the ideal place to trial it.
“The applications for this in the Far North are huge,” he said.
“We’re very similar to Canada because we have vast areas of unpopulated land.
“There are always a huge number of resources deployed for search and rescues at great expense and the unmanned vehicle can do it quicker, better and much safer.”
The industry is highly regulated in Australia and the craft can only be operated commercially after approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
Sgt Blake said Canada was a prime example of how the aircraft could be used successfully, particularly by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
“Canada is so far in front of the rest of the world with unmanned aerial vehicles,” he said.
“There is no public backlash, the public is very supportive of the police and they’ve proven that they’re very cost effective.”
He said the craft would also have useful applications in the agriculture, energy or mining industries.
