Police to deploy drones to search for missing people

● Road crashes among possible other device uses

Drones are to be deployed by Police Scotland for the first time from next week – to help search for missing people.

Two “remotely-piloted aircraft systems” (RPAS) go into service from Aberdeen and Inverness from Wednesday.

They could also be used in incidents such as road crashes and to look for suspects.

Officers have also not ruled out their use in covert surveillance.

The force said it would fully comply with Civil Aviation Authority guidance on drone use. But police have been given special permissions to “allow us to operate at a variety of incidents, both in rural and congested areas”.

It said drones could search large areas faster than officers on the ground, especially in places hard to get to.

Police Scotland said they would be deployed by specially trained officers from its operational support units and transported in marked police vehicles.

It said operations would be publicised via social media “where possible”, so people knew one of the drones was operating nearby.

Head of specialist services Chief Superintendent Matt Richards said: “The addition of the RPAS to our air support capability will ensure we can deliver this service to the north of the country when previously weather or terrain may have prevented or delayed this.

“The introduction of the RPAS will be hugely beneficial to teams, for example, when searching for vulnerable or missing people, particularly in the remote areas that we have in the north of Scotland.

“The RPAS will not replace the Police Scotland helicopter and there will still be occasions where we deploy the helicopter in the north rather than the RPAS.”

Mr Richards said images recorded would be “managed in line with current guidelines and privacy laws, including general data protection regulations”.

Justice secretary Humza Yousaf said: “This state-of-theart new equipment will help Police Scotland keep communities safe, enhancing their search capabilities for vulnerable people, particularly over wide and challenging terrain.”

Scottish Police Authority chair Susan Deacon said it was “a further step forward in ensuring Police Scotland had the tools and technology to keep people safe.”

A total of 3,494 people were reported missing in Scotland’s north-east last year and 2,343 in the Highlands and Islands.