As the most fully intact medieval city in England, Norwich in Norfolk county has become well known for its Halloween celebrations. There is something about walking through a town that was established hundreds of years ago that lends to a spooky, eerie, connection to the ghosts of time gone by. People flock to Norwich for ghost walks, forested lantern trails, haunted adventures, costume parades, and of course, good old fashioned trick or treating. This year’s celebrations were expected to be bigger than ever as more and more people have received COVID19 vaccinations making it safer to return to some pastime traditions.

In anticipation of an increase of Halloween celebrators, police in Norwich prepared by increasing their drone usage programs. In 2017, Norwich police began a three month trial using drones to assist officers. Norwich police bought 2 DJI Matrice drones and trained 4 officers to pilot them. The entire startup program cost less than £8,000, a fraction of the department’s £132,000 expenditure on standard aerial procedures. Sgt. Danny Leach, one of the department’s drone pilots, said that the drone program would not be replacing the use of helicopters, but working along with them to cover the vast region the police serve. “The helicopter can go to a number of incidents and covers quite a few counties, so you’re not going to necessarily call it for every job. Or it {the helicopter} might be committed elsewhere,” Sgt. Leach explained. “That’s where the drone gives us that extra resource and fills in the gaps when the helicopter is not available.”

Committing to providing Norwich with 21st century policing, Lorne Green, the Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner, has seen that the department acquire more drones and officers to operate them. The drones are used to monitor traffic, collect crime scene evidence, and in search and rescue missions. Police also found that the presence of drones has become a deterrent for criminal activity, which is why they decided to deploy them in a first ever trial on Halloween night.

Recently, Norwich police have been getting more reports of party goers’ drinks being spiked. As the town prepared for one of its busiest nights of the year, so did the police. “Tonight is the first time that we have been using the drones in order to police our night-time economy,” said Sgt. Matt Paine of the Community Safety Operations Unit. “It’s an opportunity for us to use our innovative technology to safeguard vulnerable people in the back streets of Norwich.”

Sgt. Paine went on to explain that the department was given the authorization to use the drones within 500meters of the pilot, a distance that allows police to stealthily inspect crowds. “We can see using our thermal imaging camera very clearly people on the back streets and anybody who looks like they may be in any difficulty we can direct our colleagues to go and support them,” he said. Using the drone, Inspector Abigail Horton-Smith spotted 3 suspected drink spiking incidents on Halloween night.

By the end of the night, drone surveillance led to officers making 9 arrests, mostly for public intoxication. But the message was clear, Norwich police were stepping up their game to ensure the safety of everyone enjoying Halloween festivities. Drones are just one level of protection police can use to help people. “It’s really important to us that when people are out and about that they remain vigilant and look out for each other,” said Inspector Horton-Smith. “We are very much taking a team approach with door staff and people working at the nightclubs. We will then work with them and the detective team to support any victims and look to try and secure any type of forensic opportunities that we can. That will be key moving forward and could be quite crucial to any type of case later down the line.”