Kent police in spy drone plan to catch fly-tippers

23 January 2010

KENT police are involved in plans to use unmanned spy drones, such as those deployed in Afghanistan, for routine work including monitoring fly-tippers.

The arms manufacturer BAE Systems is to adapt the planes for a consortium of government agencies led by Kent police.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Guardian newspaper obtained documents from the South Coast Partnership, a Home Office-backed project in which Kent police and others are developing the plan with BAE.

The documents indicate that the drones will be used not just for maritime surveillance but for a wide range of police activities.

Five other police forces have signed up to the scheme – considered as a pilot project testing the success of the technology for "surveillance, monitoring and evidence gathering".

A prototype drone with powerful cameras and sensors is planned to go on test flights later this year.

BAE and Kent police – working with policing organisations, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, HM Revenue and Customs, the Maritime and Fisheries Agency and the UK Border Agency – have drawn up lists of potential uses of the drones.

One document says, in a section titled ‘Other routine tasks (Local Councils) – surveillance’, that the drones could be used to combat "fly-posting, fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles, abnormal loads, waste management".

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