§ Mr. David Steelasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what were the results of the police experiments in the use of helicopters; and whether helicopters have now been allocated to police forces in Scotland.
§ Mr. RossThe experiments suggest that helicopters can be useful to the police work primarily in searches for suspects and missing persons and to a lesser extent in routine traffic surveillance.
Further studies are being made of the economics of using helicopters for police work and a decision whether to undertake more extensive operational trials will be taken in the light of these studies.
Scottish forces participated in the experiments but no helicopter has been allocated to police forces in Scotland.