Nottinghamshire Police’s Drone Unit uses DJI Matrice to find missing boy

A DJI Matrice drone was used by the Nottinghamshire Police's Drone Unit to find a missing 10-year-old boy, who fled his home after a family argument. The boy had left his house in Mansfield in the UK without any shoes on the police said.

Nottinghamshire Police's Drone Unit uses DJI Matrice to find missing boy

The missing child would be the latest person in Mansfield to be found using a police drone. The 10-year-old boy was reported missing in Bull Farm, Mansfield on Thursday night, August 13.

Police officers on the ground were unsuccessful in locating the boy so a police drone was launched to help and search from the sky.

A clear description of the boy and the clothes he was wearing in combination with a very strong zoom camera (Zenmuse Z30) on DJI Matrice drone enabled the police to locate him quickly. The drone operator could quickly scan a large area and spotted the boy hiding in a street. The young boy was unharmed and returned home.

The Nottinghamshire Police's Drone Unit was launched in January of this year. The unit has access to three high-tech drones. 15 police officers have been trained to fly the unmanned aircraft. The drone unit is based at the Hucknall Police station and is on standby 24/7 for any emergency in the county.

Nottinghamshire Live reports that PC Vince Saunders, Nottinghamshire Police's chief drone pilot, said:

“Our drones are particularly useful for finding missing people because they can search a very large area in a relatively short space of time.”

“They can also use their thermal imaging cameras to find people hidden by trees or by darkness. Results like this really show the value of our drones and also serve as a timely reminder of why we've invested such a lot of time and money to get them off the ground.”

“It was a fairly quick end to the incident which could have continued for a significant period of time, which prevented an unnecessary call out to the police helicopter.”

The Nottinghamshire Police's Drone Unit has helped in 44 arrests and aided in locating 10 high risk missing people since the unit was formed in January of 2020. A very impressive track record over a very short period of time.

Here at DroneXl.co, we love reporting on and sharing stories in which drones help save people's lives. You can read more, similar News stories in our category, ‘Drones for Good‘.

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Photo: Nottinghamshire Live