Volunteer police drone group launched in Tartu
After years of planning, the Police and Border Guard Board's (PPA) Southern Prefecture, together with the City of Tartu, has launched a volunteer police officers' drone group.
Some volunteer police officers (Abipolitseinik) have noted that using drones in maintaining order has added new and interesting dimensions to volunteer police work.
At present, the volunteer police drone group in Tartu consists of just a few members but, according to Andrus Reimaa, head of the Tartu PPA station, the aim is to expand the drone group team.
"A volunteer police drone patrol is not quite as simple as volunteers coming to work, launching a drone, and flying it wherever needed. The Police and Border Guard Board or a patrol deploys them according to the threat assessment and the current situation, in the manner permitted by law," Reimaa said.
"Nowadays drones play an important role around us both in security and in society as a whole. We have been able to take advantage of the opportunity that, thanks to co-funding from the City of Tartu, we acquired a drone. It is primarily aimed at ensuring security at public events in the city of Tartu and, of course, also at searching for people," Reimaa went on.
The volunteer police drone group, in conjunction with a dog handler, has already successfully used the drone in a search for a missing person.
During that operation, the person in need of assistance was quickly located in the forest, volunteer police officer Joosep Roosaar said.
"It felt very good that by the end of the day we managed to find the person alive and well. To work in the drone group, you need a healthy attitude, some technical aptitude, and the appropriate category of licenses," Roosaar, who operated the drone, noted.
Another member of the drone group, volunteer police officer Kaimo Kukk, has also responded to a search for an at-risk individual.
"We needed to fly the drone along the railway because there was a call that someone was walking somewhere on the railway outside the city. Since it is not very accessible by car, we operated several kilometres away, but fortunately there was no person on the railway. A drone may seem like a remote-controlled toy, but in reality you also need to obtain drone licenses," Kukk said.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, : Mari Peegel
