Police helicopters could be replaced by military-grade drones in parts of England and Wales under plans being pushed for by police and crime commissioners.
Currently, all forces pay to fund the National Police Air Service at a cost of more than £40 million per year.
Chairwoman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners Donna Jones said on Wednesday that around a third of forces want to use drones instead.
Speaking to journalists at a conference in Westminster, she said laws would need to be changed to allow the use of military-style drones that are allowed to fly higher with the pilot a greater distance away.
“I think that drones have a part to play in the replacement of the National Police Service in the future potentially. These helicopters are incredibly expensive.”She continued: “By the time they’ve been deployed to their base to let’s say, a burglary in action or someone running away at night-time using the infrared cameras that have on them, the time to get from their base to the location they’re needed in police forces often means that there is limited use of them.
“Drones are much quicker. They’re much more agile. The technology now is improving incredibly, and police and crime commissioners have been pushing strongly to the Home Office that drones should be a very viable alternative.”
Currently, the quadcopter-style drones used by police require the pilot to be within 300 to 500 metres of the device, although the cameras can zoom up to three miles.
Ms Jones said: “But the military ones are superb. They are much more capable, can go much higher. And of course that does make them very useful for covert policing, as well.
“So we have made representation through the APCC to the home office on this and the policing minister is aware, and we will have ongoing discussions that could potentially save tens of millions of pounds.”
She estimated that it could take more than two years for progress to be made on the plans.
The drones that would potentially be used look more like miniature aircraft, rather than the quadcopter-style currently in use by police.
