In a car park in north Manchester, police officers sat in a van around a screen, watching a live feed from a Greater Manchester Police (GMP) drone hovering over Harpurhey. Acting on civilian intelligence, they confirmed their target and sent ground officers in, making three arrests. The drone had tracked a suspect to an address, where officers seized a stolen bike and later found a machete in the house.
Operation Eagleye Targets E-Bike Crime
The operation, named Operation Eagleye, uses drones to respond to reports of e-bikes being ridden dangerously across north Manchester, including areas like Miles Platting, Collyhurst, and Monsall. On Wednesday (August 19), GMP made its latest arrests as part of the effort to cut down on anti-social behaviour. The force combines drones with plain-clothed officers to reduce crime associated with e-bikes, e-scooters, mopeds, and off-road bikes in what it calls a 'problem area'.
Dan Pickavance, Neighbourhood Inspector for Harpurhey who set up the operation with his team, said: "The idea came to us with the issues around e-bikes and off-road bikes whizzing around because the police are very limited with what we can safely do and what we can realistically do to help combat that problem." He added that the operation also addresses a lack of community confidence in the police and people taking risky actions to taunt officers.
Game-Changing Technology
Inspector Pickavance described the tactic as a "gamechanger", noting that it has expanded beyond e-bikes to assist neighbourhood teams with general patrols. He said: "We're looking now at long term funding to help these guys assist neighbourhood teams across the force to roll out the Eagleye Tactic." The drones allow officers to follow suspects spontaneously, hover over properties, and make arrests, with GMP using them as often as possible—ideally four times a month, but typically two or three.
"The people in Harpurhey absolutely love it," Pickavance said. "I'm able to show that we have now seen a marked reduction in ASB incidents involving e-bikes and Surrons, certainly in the Harpurhey area because we've taken so many of them off the streets - we're up to over 120 now." He also highlighted the cost-effectiveness of drones compared to helicopters and planes.
Future of Drone Policing
PC Tony Ashurst, who has worked in GMP for over 20 years and joined the drone team a year ago, said the drones are relatively easy to fly, with the skill lying in navigating aerial shots to guide officers. He noted the operation focuses on bikes but also uses drones for missing people, suspect searches, firearms jobs, and events like football matches and concerts. The drones use wide-screen, zoom, and thermal cameras, along with GPS.
PC Ashurst added: "Drones in a box is the next thing to come, I think. That's employed in the Met, the West Midlands, BTP, so that's effectively similar drones to what we use but in a weather proof box on top of a roof in a key location which are flown remotely."
