Police drone to help rescue efforts in the Peaks

A police drone will now be helping rescuers to find people in danger in the Derbyshire Peaks.

The force’s Drones Team and Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation have had a long running partnership, working and training together for a number of years and ensuring that the way we use drones is as effective as it can be.

As part of this close partnership, the team have recently donated a drone to Mountain Rescue to help bolster the great work they do day-to-day, and provide extra ‘eyes in the sky’.

Sergeant Tom Gee, from Derbyshire Constabulary, is the regional operational lead for Drones.

He said: “We have a great relationship with the Mountain Rescue team and they have stepped in with their drones to help when we’ve needed additional support in the Peaks.

“This has been invaluable in finding those people that we’ve needed to – mostly people who are missing.

“Donating this drone back to them is our way of saying thank you for the support the team have given us when we’ve needed it. It will be fantastic to see it put to use and, most importantly, helping the team to expand their capability and keep people safe.”

Brendan O’Neill, from the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation, is also the Mountain Rescue lead for Drones nationally.

He accepted the drone on behalf of the Peak District team and said: "We've been working very closely with the Derbyshire Police Drone Unit for a number of years now, providing drone support on numerous missing person searches.

“The extra thermal drone will allow us to expand our capability, particularly in the dark.

“We can now further expand our searches in these conditions – which will be vital in keeping searches going for longer and helping to locate people quicker.”