Last Saturday the Local Police of Calpe received a call from a citizen reporting that a swimmer was in difficulty in Cala del Mallorquín. A patrol of the Local Police went to the scene and once there, the officers found that a middle-aged man was sheltered on the rocks of the cliff of the cove, unable to get out of it due to the force of the waves.
The officers immediately alerted the fire brigade and Maritime Rescue to rescue the swimmer, but during the wait the Calpe Local Police officers made use of one of the recently acquired resources: a state-of-the-art drone.
The UMAC (the Calpe Local Police Aerial Resources Unit) flew the drone over the bather and, thanks to the built-in loudspeaker, reassured the bather and gave him instructions on how to find a way out of the cliff. Finally, the bather came out on his own, helped by the instructions of the officers and thanks to the invaluable help of the drone.
Last August, the Calpe Local Police set up a specific aerial resources unit called UMAC (Calpe Aerial Resources Unit) made up of four officers trained in the use of security drones.
This unit was created with the acquisition by the City Council of 2 latest generation security drones’ model DJI Pack Mavic 3 PRO, one of which has an infrared camera for night vision to locate people or animals. The drones have cameras with different zoom, loudspeaker and spotlight and have a range of 10 kilometres.
The new unit of the Local Police is already beginning to demonstrate the multiple possibilities of use, from traffic control or pursuit of vehicles and people to surveillance of boats, assistance in health services, search for missing persons, surveillance at rallies and events, pursuit of illegal dumping and environmental crimes or surveillance of promenades and pursuit of illegal sales.