PCs Clarke Orchard and Julian Fry hid themselves on the farm but were soon found by the drone which has thermal imaging to pick up heat sources in the darkness and has an incredible zoom capacity so that officers can identify individuals and even read the license plates of escaping vehicles.
The demonstration showed members how far the drone could enable officers to see when tracking down criminals.
Capabilities of the drone
PC Orchard, who recently joined the Rural Affairs team, said: “The drone gives us opportunities to cover vast amounts of geography, day and night.
“The capabilities of the drone give us a big outreach where we can look to cover off really vulnerable areas that are geographically challenged.
“We can cover a large amount of land where we can pick up vehicles and suspicious characters under the canopy of night and various other things that might be associated with aspects of rural crime.
“That can be anything from quad bikes being stolen to larger vehicles such as tractors, trailers and precision equipment as well like the GPS domes on a tractor.”
“Some of the main threats we’re seeing at the moment are livestock theft, livestock worrying and in particular farm machinery and farm vehicle theft."
PC Clarke Orchard, Devon and Cornwall Police
Crime causes massive problems
NFU Devon assistant county adviser Sophie Herd said: “Rural crime causes massive problems for farmers, whether it be through financial loss or fears for their safety, so we hope that the addition of a dedicated task force and a drone to help identify criminals will help to reduce the amount of incidents we are seeing.”