Police could begin using drones as first responders when the public reports crimes.

The UK government has said that £230 million will be earmarked to spend on 'time and money saving technology' for police forces across the UK which includes using drones as first responders where appropriate.

Some police forces are already trialling the use of drones as first responders while other trials are underway in Norwich for Beyond VLOS (BVLOS) use of drones. West Midlands Police (DronesWMP) rely heavily on their Drone Team for surveillance and containment in call-outs. You can see their many successes and their fleet on the Channel 4 series, Sky Coppers. This series also demonstrates how the police perform regular patrols over industrial areas with thermal drones to detect and raid drug factories.

It's unclear what types of incidents police drones will be deployed to in the future, or when the new rollout will happen across all UK police forces, but the new policy and the BVLOS trials are hoped to improve police response times by providing super-fast and accurate information from the scene.

By deploying remotely-controlled drones to live incidents, the idea is police and other emergency responders will have a greater understanding of what's happening, quickly, and they won't have to rely on the public to relay accurate information in order to plan a response.

It was revealed that some police forces would test the use of drones for certain types of crimes. This is far cheaper and faster than using their conventional air assets such as the police helicopter and plane from the air support unit. This could involve using them to provide swift surveillance of an incident, apply a containment and track suspects at the scene, as well as those fleeing the scene.

If these trials are successful, the drones could soon be strategically stationed on buildings across major cities and operated remotely to scenes, give the police early information on any incidents. Currently the police have to adhere to VLOS rules like other pilots, but this new plan means the police will be required to - and be able to - fly beyond VLOS.

Speaking about a Norfolk BVLOS trial for the drones in November, National Police Chief Council advisor Neil Sexton said: 'DFR (Drone as First Responder) is a drone that sits autonomously on a roof somewhere in a city and it's in a box, it's protected'.

It will work quickly, when a control room receives a 999 call, the drone can be launched completely remotely, flying over an incident to gain immediate situational awareness that will be fed back not just to that control station or control room, but to all emergency services involved in the incident via live video streams. This was demonstrated in the Sky Coppers series on Channel 4 to some great success.

The ability to get a UAV over an incident that is still developing will ensure emergency services can gain a better situational awareness in as short a time as possible. Hovering overhead, the drone can see straight away if the police are dealing with a major road traffic collision that requires a wider emergency response, or whether it's a minor collision that doesn't require a full scale deployment.

Police in England and Wales currently use about 400 drones but they cannot be flown out of the operator's line of sight. There are plans however to change those rules and to allow police operators to fly beyond VLOS. Initial trials for this are taking place in areas with closed-off airspace this year.