Following a horror month on Tasmanian roads, the state government has announced the upcoming budget will include almost half a million dollars for drones to target anti-social driving.
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Police, Fire and Emergency Management Minister Jacquie Petrusma announced on Sunday that $460,000 had been allocated in the budget to increase the use of drones by Tasmania Police.
"This additional $460,000 in funding will support an increase in operational demand for drones, which have become a valuable and vital resource in our fight against crime, searching for missing people and helping to make our community safe," she said.
The announcement comes days after the state recorded its sixth road death this month, bringing the state's total to 26 - 16 more than the same period last year.
The funding will build on Tasmania Police's existing drone capacity of 29 remote pilots operating 30 drones across the state, who have carried out over 935 aerial operations since 2018.
Ms Petrusma said the ongoing use of drone technology would help crackdown on anti-social driving.
"There have been a number of successes across Tasmania where offenders in stolen and evading vehicles have been apprehended with drone support, and a number of stolen vehicles have been located in bushland by using drones," she said.
The drones have also been used by crash investigators to reconstruct crash scenes and calculate vehicle speeds.
Ms Petrusma said the drones were also used to observe traffic offenders.
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Andrew Chounding
An experienced multi-platform journalist focusing on the issues that impact health in Tasmania. With a background in social research and public policy, health reporting for Andrew is about ensuring the best health outcomes for the Northern Tasmanian community. Contact Andrew at: andrew.chounding@examiner.com.au or 0437 358 262
An experienced multi-platform journalist focusing on the issues that impact health in Tasmania. With a background in social research and public policy, health reporting for Andrew is about ensuring the best health outcomes for the Northern Tasmanian community. Contact Andrew at: andrew.chounding@examiner.com.au or 0437 358 262
