Force drones

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FIN/25/003217/U

Version Date: 17/10/2025

The Alliance Roads Policing Department, the Resourcing and Development Department, the Alliance Operations Department, the Alliance Finance Department, and the Alliance Fleet Department have provided the following information.

Drones:
-           Does your police force operate a drone program?
Yes

-           For each year between 2020 and 2024 how many drones has your police force operated?
2020/21 – 35 aircraft
2021/22 – 29 aircraft
2022/23 – 41 aircraft
2023/24 – 10 aircraft
2024/25 – 14 aircraft

-           How much money has been invested in your police forces drone program, for each year between 2020 and 2024?
Please note that the term ‘invested’ has been interpreted to mean how much money has been spent on the Capital Drones Programme in use by the Force. The amount spent on the Capital Drones Programme in each financial year is:

-           Do you have a designated drone department or are they allocated to individual officers?
Yes, Dorset Police has a designated Drone Team in addition to trained Drone Pilots in other departments.

-           Is drone training implemented internally or externally?
Drone training is implemented internally.

-           How much does it cost to train a drone pilot and how many hours does this take?
To obtain the General Visual Line of Sight Certificate (GVC), it takes around 35 hours. This is based on a five day, seven hours a day training course (excluding the one hour for lunch and breaks). The Force then adds on one or two weeks additional training covering how to fly and operate a drone for police-related tasks. This course can be one or two weeks depending on Pilot requirements. Total training is 70 hours (GVC plus one week) or 105 hours (GVC plus two weeks).

-           What changes are planned within your police force to better integrate drones in front line policing?
Dorset Police is increasing Cadre Pilots within other Alliance Operations departments to provide better 24hr capability.

-           Does your police force have future aspirations to operate drones as first a responder in line with future legislative changes?
Drone as First Responder is a piece of work being developed and trialled within the National Police Chief Council (NPCC) Drone Programme. If roll out is approved, Dorset Police will conduct a feasibility review.
 
-           Does your police force share information with other police forces regarding their drone programs, and its future integration?
Yes, the NPCC Drone Programme collates and shares information to all forces. Dorset Police participates with the NPCC National Drone Porgramme and data sharing.

EMPASS / Helicopters:
-           Does your police force own its own deployable helicopter or use EMPASS / similar program?
Dorset Police uses the National Police Air Service (NPAS) for helicopters. As such, we do not hold information on these questions directly. It may be worth submitting a request to the NPAS Force Lead which is West Yorkshire Police and can be submitted here: Freedom of Information | West Yorkshire Police

-           For each year between 2020 and 2024, how many times did your police force deploy the helicopter?

Dorset Police uses the National Police Air Service (NPAS) for helicopters. As such, we do not hold information on these questions directly. It may be worth submitting a request to the NPAS Force Lead which is West Yorkshire Police and can be submitted here: Freedom of Information | West Yorkshire Police

-           How much did your police force spend on EMPASS / internal helicopter programs for each year between 2020 and 2024?

Vehicles - For each year between 2020 and 2024:
-           How many of your police forces vehicles have been involved in road traffic collisions?
2020 – 250
2021 – 309
2022 – 288
2023 – 305
2024 – 302

-           How much has this cost your force in repairs / replacement vehicles?
No information held; whilst Dorset Police holds information on the cost of repairs, the information is not stored according to whether the damage was caused by a Road Traffic Collision (RTC). The Force does not split out the costs between Police Accidental damage, Tactical Pursuit and Containment (TPAC) Damage and Damage caused by 3rd parties where their insurance cover the repair cost. Therefore, information is not held on the cost of damage obtained in an RTC.

-           What % of your front-line officers are response driver trained (Yankee or golf using Avon and Somerset terms).
No information held we do not record percentages. We do however have a head count of the number of drivers, which can be broken down into those with Basic, Standard and Advanced levels of training. If you would like to submit a new request, we should be able to provide this information within the statutory 20 working days.

-           What is the cost of training a response driver?
Approximately £750 per officer per week.

-           How many hours / days does the course take?
3 Weeks

-           Is this training delivered internally or externally?
All delivered internally through our Driver Training Unit.