Demo shows use of drones by RCMP in rural, Indigenous communities

By Jessica Lee  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A five-year-old has taken off from a residence into a wooded area in Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation. This was the mock scenario Cochrane RCMP painted for a drone demonstration on Friday (June 14) during trials it was conducting in the First Nation earlier this month. From a meeting room at the Cochrane detachment, a remote drone pilot reached the site where the child was last seen in about two minutes and honed in on a bushy area where a white sedan and a person imitating the child could be seen on a big television screen. “In this scenario, we would have radioed a local RCMP member on the ground and advised that we have eyes on the individual and they would have…

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