The Royal Montserrat Police Service is considering the deployment of thermal imaging drones to enhance search and rescue operations on and around the island.
Commissioner of Police Mark Payne discussed the initiative, along with other ways the team will be strengthened, during an interview on ZJB Radio on 13 February.
“We have had some high profile missing people’s cases. Montserrat has some very difficult terrain if we are required to search,” the police chief told listeners.
He said that to help improve search and rescue efforts, he is looking to introduce some “better technological capability”.
“We really need drones with thermal capability [so] we’ll be able to search some of the dense undergrowth and some of the difficult to reach areas in a much more sophisticated way than just boots on the ground.”
He said the police service, Montserrat Fire and Rescue Service and Disaster Management Coordination Agency will be participating in updated search and rescue training after the St Patrick’s Festival.
The use of new technology, such as the drones, will be incorporated into that training, Payne explained.
He said the police marine unit will be also be trained in the use of drones, so that offficers can search as effectively on the sea as on land.
He added that the purchase of drones as well as upgraded search and rescue vehicles have been considered in the last budget review.
“Just to allow us, if people go missing, to find them as quickly and safely as we can, and bring them back to their loved ones,” Payne said.
Fire officer John Lee, 49, departed alone from Montserrat aboard a white 30-foot fishing vessel named the MV Optimum on 28 August, 2024. He has not been seen since.
Seventy-four-year-old Mary Bruno, who lived at the Lookout warden-supported units, disappeared on the morning of 23 October, 2022. She was last seen wearing a green blouse and blue skirt.
The Royal Montserrat Police Service can be contacted on (664) 491-2555 or 491-2556.
