The fleet has grown from 16 to 30, and the number of officers trained to fly them has grown to 29 after a further eight recently underwent two weeks of training as part of partnership with the Australian Federal Police.

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Drones are being requested when police executive warrants, assess crash scenes or approach various crime scenes, as well as in search and rescue operations. Their footage can be used as evidence in court, and a 3D model generated by a drone was used in the Coroners Court.

Drone operators travel to the area near the scene - rather than flying them from a remote location - but have an exemption to extend their flight beyond the line of sight, communicating with other aircraft users in the area.

A drone was used in Burnie in June when a man was reported as having a firearm in the street in the early hours of a morning.

They were also used on June 7 to track down two people who allegedly dumped a stolen car between Queenstown and Strahan and fled into the bush.

A drone was used to investigate cliffs and coastal terrain as part of the recent search and rescue operation on the North-West Coast.

Chief drone pilot, Senior Sergeant Mark Forteath, said the capability of drones had increased quickly since their introduction, including better camera footage, laser range finders, thermal imaging and faster top speeds.

"We're finding more and more that police forward commanders are requesting drone assistance to be able to get situational awareness from the air," he said.

"We get called to so many jobs on a weekly basis, from crash scenes to crime scenes, to search and rescue incidents, when warrants are executed at times."

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Assistant Commissioner Adrian Bodnar said the use of a drone had to be approved by a senior police pilot and were not used to carry out routine surveillance.

"There are rules that are articulated through the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, quite clearly we need to abide by those rules," he said.

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"There are checks and balances in place for each time a request is made to fly a drone from a police operational perspective."

The government is spending $400,000 over four years on drones for Tasmania Police.

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