Police are investigating evidence that paedophiles are using drones to watch and record children at school, after receiving reports of more than 300 suspicious flights in the last two years.
A total of 333 flights have been recorded over or close to school premises since October 2020, making schools the third most common location for reports of nuisance or suspect drone use, after airports and prisons.
James Bingham, lead intelligence analyst at the counter-drone unit of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), said officers were working to understand the scale of the problem. “We are seeing an increasing number of incidents that have some other intelligence to indicate that that activity is more likely linked to registered sex offenders activity or other voyeuristic activity,” he told a conference.
The suspicious sightings cover police forces across the country, with clusters around cities including Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester and London. No arrests have yet been made. The NPCC said it was working to understand the precise nature of drone misuse and encouraged schools to report any drone activity to local police.
Drones are increasingly used by criminals for offences from burglary to voyeurism. The NPCC counter-drone unit received 9,638 reports of drone sightings between October 2020 and last month, more than double the daily average recorded in 2018.
