I’m an ‘eye in the sky’ hunting gangs, drug dealers and thugs on the run – they do ridiculous things to escape
WITH the police banging at his door on a cold afternoon, a man scurries in his underwear to offload several suspicious packages into his neighbour’s garden.
After cops finally barge in, they discover bags of drugs and cash that are worth up to £5,000.
While the criminal thought he was getting away with it by tossing away the evidence, he had no clue that he was being monitored by a police drone flying high above his property in Smethwick, West Midlands.
After the property came under scrutiny, cops secured a drug warrant to carry out a search and took along the unmanned aerial vehicle to effectively tackle the situation.
Following the arrest, one of the cops in charge of the operation says: “Having videod it, we are able to say one hundred per cent that it came from a male in that address that threw it into the next door’s neighbour’s garden.
“Some of it came down like confetti… it’s like a money tree.”
His woeful attempt is featured in Sky Coppers, a new documentary airing tonight on Channel 4, which shows how police use drones to catch criminals who try to escape justice – often in the most ridiculous fashion.
According to officers, some of the most ludicrous ways yobs have tried to outsmart cops include hiding in a shed amongst rubbish, ducking into bushes, and sheltering underneath a trampoline.
Specially-trained pilots are tasked with operating the drones from a safe distance while communicating their findings to officers on the ground.
West Midlands Police Force was one of the first in the country to obtain drones, having started using them in 2014.
Sergeant Keith Bennet, lead drone pilot at the force’s Drone Unit, says: “If anybody had said 28 years ago, zoom forward to 2020 and you will be flying small unmanned aircraft to help catch criminals and help find people – it was absolute science fiction at the point, but it’s come to a point now where it’s science fact.”
With the smallest drone able to fit into a large pocket when folded, they are much more difficult to detect and way quieter than a helicopter.
According to officers, police began turning to drones for assistance as a means to offset the decline in police recruitment.
“Back in the day when there was a lot of police around, you’d have the resources to be able to flood an area in search of an offender,” says one of Keith’s colleagues.
“We don’t have that luxury anymore. Police forces have cut back so it’s more about the intelligent use of your officers and getting that drone in the sky.”
Drones are not only used to find criminals on the run – they have also aided police in the war against drugs, including properties used to grow cannabis.
In the documentary, PC Dean Wainwright studies footage gathered by a drone from a house set to be raided.
He says: “Looking at these images, the target address is glowing orange in the middle. It looks like some of the heat is spilling into the next door’s loft. That would suggest that that is a significant cannabis grower at that location.”
PC Dean adds that they often come across cases where people are trafficked into the country and forced to grow the Class B drug in order to pay off their debts.
“They are nothing more than a gardener, which is really unfortunate”, he says.
“We tend to refer to them as gardeners before we know the circumstances. What we will do is pull up a couple of hundreds short of the address and then we can fly across so we don’t show out and don’t alert anybody to the fact that we are coming.”
Cannabis farm
Launching a smaller drone into the air to avoid detection, Dean and his colleague, Candice, communicate to officers on the ground in charge of the raid.
After breaking into the property, a search confirms their suspicions – a huge cannabis farm set up in one room.
In another case, a man calls cops to alert them to an individual in breach of his bail conditions – he had visited an address he’s prohibited from.
Putting up their drones, the police launch a dramatic manhunt that sees them race to capture the culprit.
After spotting him climb into the back of a property, the pilot informs his colleagues on the ground who conduct a thorough search of the shed, garden, and inside the house to no avail.
Just when it begins to feel like all hope is lost, an officer discovers him curled up in a tiny storage unit, marking another success for the Drone Unit.
The vehicles aren’t only there to catch criminals, however. They also assist cops to find missing people, like a mental health patient whose worried husband calls on cops to help find his wife in her nightgown on a blisteringly cold night.
Sergeant Keith explains: “With instances where there are really vulnerable people involved, it’s really vital that the drone is deployed rapidly, especially when it’s really cold weather.”
With a drone in the air, cops are joined by a dog handler. Using thermal sensors, they eventually find the woman but are warned to approach with caution as she has a knife in her hand.
After they close in on her and bring her to safety, a responding officer says: “The drone and the dog work hand in hand. They work really well together.
“On this occasion, it’s not someone you would want to get too close to the dog and put him at risk. So the drone is made to locate the person. There have been situations when the drones have saved a life.”
In other incredible scenes, police are able to use thermal sensors to track down a gang member left on his own after nine of his accomplices flee the scene of a crime.
He tries to evade capture by running into a field of horses but cops soon work out his hiding spot and swoop in to make an arrest.
Another emergency call sees the team scramble to find a driver who has crashed his car into a pole and takes off before help arrives.
Sky Coppers airs on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm