Teenage rape victim found by police drone with thermal imaging camera

16-year-old dialled 999 saying she was still with her 'attacker' but didn't know where she was

A drone with a thermal imaging camera was used to find a teenage girl who called police saying she had just been raped and was still with her alleged attacker but didn’t know where she was.

Lincolnshire Police said the drone was used to trace the 16-year-old and get officers to her “within minutes”.

A force spokesman explained that the missing "high risk" girl had called 999 in the early hours of Saturday from the Brown's Road area of Boston, Lincolnshire.

She could not give her location, but described still being with her attacker in a large disused industrial complex surrounded by an 8ft high fence.

This was enough for the force to use its drone to find the girl and guide police officers to her and the man she was with.

A Lincolnshire Police spokesman said: “Our drone unit helped to locate her and she was found with a man in his thirties.

“The man was arrested.

“Officers from our Emerald Team, who are specifically trained to support victims of rape and sexual assaults, are supporting the victim.”

The incident is an example of how British police are now some of the most enthusiastic adopters of drone technology among law enforcers worldwide – despite some observers’ anxieties about the creation of a “surveillance state”.

As long ago as 2006 Merseyside Police was considering using drones to hover over ‘problem estates’, with one senior officer suggesting it was cheaper than using the force helicopter for aerial surveillance and evidence gathering.

In June 2017 the Dorset and Devon and Cornwall forces launched what was described as the first specialist police drone unit, with six drones equipped with HD and thermal imaging cameras.

By June 2018, according to the i newspaper, 31 out of Britain’s 45 police forces owned or had access to drone technology, and dozens of officers were undergoing Civil Aviation Authority training to control the unmanned aircraft.

Supporters of drones in police work have pointed to the way they have been used to monitor officer safety and potential suspect escape routes during raids against organised crime operations.

The Lincolnshire Police drones unit now has its own twitter account, which claims its successes include using thermal imaging to find a vulnerable dementia sufferer “in the pitch dark” and helping save the life of a motorist suffering from hypothermia after crashing his car on a cold February night.