PUBLIC SAFETY
REACH WHERE HELP IS NEEDED –
RESCUE MISSIONS ARE MADE MORE
EFFECTIVE WITH DRONES
CASE STU DY
Product
Mavic 2 Enterprise
Industry
Public Safety
Application
Search & Rescue
Country
United Kingdom
Customer
Devon & Cornwall Police and Dorset Police, United Kingdom
DEVON &
CORNWALL AND
DORSET POLICE
DEPLOY DRONES
IN COOPERATION
WITH RESCUE
TEAMS
Drone deployment has taken over headlines since the London Grenfell
Tower re incident happened in June 2017 a stor y in which the picture of
a DJI Inspire drone own by Kent Fire and Rescue took center stage. While
the Grenfell Tower incident had signicant media coverage, it is far from
a singular case. In 2017, re and rescue operations statistics in England
showed more than 500,000 incidents where police, re and rescue teams
were involved.
It is standard procedure for the police to work with rescue teams.
Distressed people often call the 999 number for police emergencies.
The phone operators will then dispatch re service, search and rescue
or medical ser vices depending on the situation. The police are heavily
involved in search and rescue missions when there is a potential
threat to people’s lives.
Devon & Cornwall and Dorset Police departments formed an alliance in
2016, and started their drone program in 2017. The goal was to explore and
implement new technologies so police operations could be more ecient
and eective. They quickly found that the deployment of drones created
new solutions to old problems.
HANGING OFF A CLIFF
A typical example of police and rescue cooperation is when people
get injured or lost while doing outdoor activities like hiking, climbing,
or sailing. England’s long coastline is a dynamic playground where
climbing or hiking incidents happen frequently. When Devon & Cornwall
and Dorset police receive a call for assistance, they conduct the search
at the incident site while sending out a request to par tner agencies
such as Her Majesty ’s Coast Guard.
“WHEN WE GET TO AN INCIDENT SCENE,
FIRST WE NEED TO HAVE A QUICK OVERVIEW
OF WHAT IS HAPPENING AS THE COAST GUARD
NEEDS TO BE BRIEFED AND JOINT ACTION
NEEDS TO BE DEFINED,”
says Ricky Fidler, Dorset Police Drone Chief Pilot. “We are responsible
for the initial intelligence and this is where a drone comes in handy.
Particularly in areas like a cli where there is no direc t access by foot,
the aerial over view is invaluable. One of the biggest advantages of the
new Mavic 2 Enterprise, other than being ver y reliable, is its small
dimensions, the short set up time and how simple it is to use.”
During a search & rescue operation, extended ight time is critical.
Now with the Mavic 2 Enterprise, the drone operators can y farther
thanks to the batter y that supports up to 31 minutes of ight time.
What is more, the self-heating battery works in temperatures as low
as -4°F (-20°C), which makes a big dierence in the mission since
accidents happen any time of the year.
SAVING LIVES
While the Coast Guard rope team is on the way, the police
is securing the area and reaching out to the rescue subject.
The new speaker accessory of the Mavic 2 Enterprise facilitates
communication between ocers and people in distress.
Visual or acoustic feedback can be given, and they can rest
assured that help is on the way. Once the Coast Guard arrives,
the M2E speaker lets teams communicate with each other
while the rescue ocer is being lowered down on a rope to
the bottom of the cli to save the person.
Rescue operations could happen at any time of the day,
so having a spotlight is very helpful in low light conditions.
With the Mavic 2 Enterprise spotlight accessor y, the drone
can help pinpoint the exact location of the missing person.
“This not only assists them in reaching the person but the
abilit y to illuminate an area during a rescue operation will
improve the safety of those within the rescue environment
and help the incident commander make decisions,” points out
Tom Shainberg, Devon & Cornwall Police Drone Chief Pilot.
This is especially useful on a cli as placing a source of
lighting on a cli is very dicult. The spotlight of the
Mavic 2 Enterprise can illuminate the operation mid-air,
as it hovers above the water.
Operating a drone in a rescue environment like a cli
can sometimes be challenging. The Mavic 2 Enterprise is
equipped with an omnidirectional obstacle sensing system
that keeps the drone at a safe distance away from clis,
vegetation, and the rope team.
The M2E S potlight id enti es an d
helps r escu e a climb er strande d at
the bot tom of a 100 -foot cli in low
light conditions.
Ultra -co mpac t and ea sy
to depl oy – Mavic 2 Enterprise
People in need of rescue are often lost in remote areas
where connection might be unstable. Shainberg notes
“OcuSync 2.0 provides a stable connection and better
picture quality, with a 1080p max downlink, the auto
frequency switch, and a longer operation range.”
KEEPING DATA SAFE
The police usually reviews the drone footage after a
rescue operation for evaluation and training purposes.
This process can be made more precise by the new GPS
timestamp. The stamps are integrated in both pictures
and videos and provide information about the location
and time sequence, which the team can use to access
operational details. The new password protection feature
keeps all of the data safe during and after any mission.
As data securit y is a sensitive matter for police work,
the request to enter a password in order to take o or
access the 24 GB onboard storage ensures that the data
stays safe even if the drone falls into the wrong hands.
THE FUTURE OF DRONE USAGE
IN UK POLICE
On the application of drones in police operations, Fidler and
Shainberg said: “the integration of drones in everyday work
makes a huge impact on the results that can be achieved in
the future. At least for Devon & Cornwall and Dorset, the
deployment of drones will be steadily growing, making
operations more eective while reducing risks for police
ocers.
Additionally, our cooperation with the rescue teams shows
them how eective drones are in daily operations and how
benecial a drone can be as a tool to assist rescue work,
encouraging them to dive more into drone usage going
forward.” The Devon & Cornwall and Dorset Drone Alliance
Team considers the Mavic 2 Enterprise an exciting answer to
the real requirements of public safety and law enforcement
teams, and is looking forward to working with it.
Contact us
enterprise@dji.com
Learn more
dji.com/mavic-2-enterprise
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