Police use drones to target rogue jet ski users
BBCPolice have been using drones in an attempt to curb "nuisance behaviour" caused by jet ski riders.
Devon and Cornwall Police are running a campaign in Teignmouth, Devon, to deter anti-social behaviour after reports of incidents on the water and near the quayside.
PC Ben Chadwick, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said a jet ski user was recently "seriously injured" and had to be airlifted to hospital with a head injury.
He said: "We don't want to spoil anybody's fun, but, at the same time, we just want people to be aware they need to be careful in the water and have respect for both the water and for the other water users."
Chadwick said the force saw an increase in anti-social behaviour when good weather returned and urged people to report any incidents they may witness so officers could try and work out who the owner of the craft were and what they did wrong.
Officers said the drone's bird's eye view gave a better chance of spotting issues when they occurred.
Teignmouth Harbour Master Rob Parsons said he expected visitors numbers to increase over the summer months and wanted those with such watercraft to make sure they were safe.
He said people should "look at what notices are out there because we do have commercial shipping coming in, and we are conducting projects at the moment which may have an impact to what they're doing".
Parsons also said he wanted people to be aware of what the rules and the regulations were "so everyone can have fun and do it safely".
Police said they used the drones to monitor the Teign Estuary to "monitor activity", but added "most visitors" had been "acting responsibly" recently.
Officers said they would continue to collect evidence using tactics and equipment such as drones, CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to disrupt any offenders.
