How a fleet of hi-tech drones are helping rural police catch organised gangs

It's a bright, clear midweek morning with hardly a cloud in the sky. On the M5 motorway, motorists in cars, vans and lorries are immersed in the rolling Devon countryside[1] that surrounds them as they make up the fast flow of traffic, while blissfully unaware of what hangs over them. Not far away, perched 160ft above sea level on the remote edge of the Blackdown Hills, a specially trained police officer is monitoring passing vehicles[2], not with the naked eye, but with a ?30,000 hi-tech drone.

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PC Tim Brooks sits inside a police van monitoring footage being captured by a drone above the M5 in Devon (Alex Ross/The Independent)

Piloted using a handheld remote control pad, big enough to make a gaming aficionado envious, PC Carl Thomas has positioned the four-propeller-powered drone 107 metres above the motorway, capturing footage of the traffic going north.

The camera is so good that the former firearms officer can read number plates from as far as 2km away. "We are the eye in the sky," says his colleague and fellow pilot, PC Tim Brooks, with a smile. The pair are one of three drone teams within Devon and Cornwall Police[3], the first force in the country to set up a dedicated unit, and are called upon to assist with all kinds of incident: from missing persons to police chases, and even animal rescues.

But today, on the first Wednesday of autumn, they are teaming up with officers on the ground to tackle organised criminal gangs who have been targeting farms to steal equipment including machinery, tractors and quad bikes.

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The drone takes off from a remote clearing not far from the M5 motorway (Alex Ross/The Independent)

It is a serious issue [4]in Devon and Cornwall, where the combined cost of claims from rural crime shot up by 60 per cent to ?1.6m in 2024 from the year before, according to NFU Mutual data shared with The Independent. Force intelligence suggests that some offenders are taking the stolen goods to ports to ship abroad, transporting them on motorways in open-top livestock lorries to avoid detection by roadside units. Some make their way to Eastern Europe, where the sanctions from the Ukraine war have created a thriving black market in these machines.

"While motorists drive along, they will have no idea we're looking down on the M5 with a bird's eye view, checking the tops of high-sided vehicles that are maybe carrying stolen plant machinery," says PC Brooks. "When we pick up something below that looks suspicious, the ground units will find the vehicle and pull it over for further inspection."

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The drone is piloted using a large remote control pad (Alex Ross/The Independent)

The two police officers operate from an unmarked van, parked in a clearing, that is kitted up inside with three large screens, each one showing a different angle of view from the drone overhead. "Is that OK?" PC Brooks asks the motorway police units, as the drone is positioned to view northbound traffic, with live footage shared for all officers to see. "Ok, good, let's go," the officer down below responds.

Devon and Cornwall Police proudly state that they have pioneered the use of drones in policing, having started using the technology in 2015. Their drone team even has a dedicated social media page on which it shares footage of its successes. But it's a tool that is required.

Operating within a force that has to monitor vast areas of countryside, while faced with the same financial constraints as other police forces across the country, the drone team's part in policing is becoming ever important, particularly considering the fact that rural crime cost farms in the UK ?44m last year, according [5]to NFU Mutual. Agricultural vehicle theft made up ?7m of the loss, including ?2.7m worth of quad bikes and all-terrain vehicles and ?1.5m worth of tractors.

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The drones can provide vehicle number plates from as far as 2km away (Alex Ross/The Independent)

And with four dedicated officers and a sergeant on the force's rural affairs team, bosses say the use of drones is key to stopping the movement of the stolen items out of the county, and even the country. "Unfortunately we are are seeing organised criminal gangs come into our force area, and they are targeting isolated geographic locations, stealing portable assets such as trailers, quad bikes and even tractors," says PC Clarke Orchard, leader of the rural affairs team, who is stationed at the weighbridge near Tiverton during the operation.

"Invariably [the stolen goods] will be shipped out to Eastern Europe. We've got the unfortunate invasion of Ukraine, and, with the sanctions imposed over there, there's an obvious demand for machinery and I would suggest that theft may continue to rise. "The assets are very expensive.

This theft is low risk, high reward for organised criminal gangs sourcing this equipment. It's being discreetly hidden in things like containers, so it's difficult for us to see. That's why days like this with the drones team are so important."

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At a weighbridge facility near Tiverton, officers coordinating with the drone team pull vehicles over for checks (Alex Ross/The Independent)

At the weighbridge, PC Orchard has assembled a team of police officers, as well as officials from the local council's trading standards department and the Environment Agency, for the day's action, named Operation Ragwort.

As the morning progresses, a 4x4 towing a trailer carrying livestock is pulled in. Officers make sure that the trailer is not stolen, while the welfare of the sheep is checked along with their passports. And as with any crime operation, unrelated offences are picked up.

A rental van carrying computer units bought from schools comes up above the 3.5 tonne limit for driving on the motorway, while at a nearby roadside check on the A373, a motorist is found to be driving in a car without an MOT.

Asked if his team is winning the battle against rural crime, PC Orchard says: "I'd like to think we're trying our best, as proven by today."

References

1. ^ countryside (www.independent.co.uk)
2. ^ vehicles (www.independent.co.uk)
3. ^ Devon and Cornwall Police (www.independent.co.uk)
4. ^ It is a serious issue (www.independent.co.uk)
5. ^ according (www.nfumutual.co.uk)