Case study
Politie Nederland × Avy
Since 2022 the Dutch Police have been building one of Europe's first automatic police drone programmes. At its heart is Aera, our fixed-wing VTOL drone, which launches from its own docking station. In 2024 they became the first police force in Europe to receive an exemption to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).
The goal is simple: get a live picture of an incident to the control room before the first officers arrive, so the correct help is sent straight away. The work is ultimately meant to benefit police across the whole of the Netherlands, not just one region.
The challenge
When a call comes in, the control room has to decide how many units to send, often with little information about the scene. The police set out to test whether an automatic drone could get there first and stream a live picture back.
They named three expected benefits: helping victims more effectively, possibly a better chance of catching suspects, and safer working conditions for officers who know what they are driving into. They also set clear limits: the drone is for incident response, not for surveillance or public order policing.
Image source: smartpatrol.nl
The solution
Choosing a fixed-wing VTOL with a dock
The police chose Aera, our fixed-wing VTOL drone, for its range and speed: it can reach incidents across a wide area while launching from a compact docking station. The first trial flights took place in spring 2022, with the Oost-Nederland unit in Twente.
Building it carefully
The programme moved step by step. The first phase tested the drone and docking station, and a stable, secure connection between the aircraft and its operator, with data sent safely over the police network.
Alongside the technology, the police ran citizen panels. Residents saw benefits for incident response but asked when a drone would be used and how privacy is protected. The police used these answers to shape ethical guidelines and to explain clearly why and how the drone is deployed.
Privacy was built in from the start: footage meets legal privacy requirements and is deleted automatically after a few days.
Video source: Politie Eenheid Oost-Nederland Youtube
First in Europe: flying beyond visual line of sight
In April 2024 the Dutch aviation authority (ILT) granted the police an exemption to fly the Aera beyond the pilot's line of sight. It covers a six-square-kilometre area around Twente Airport for two years. It made them the first police force in Europe to receive such an exemption.
The aircraft flies itself, but a pilot always monitors it remotely and can step in. Safety measures include the radio mandatory zone around Twente Airport combined with ADS-B detection of other aircraft, which is also shown in the drone's control software.
In practice: an oil spill no one could see
During operations, a Dutch police unit flying the Aera spotted an oil spill in a nature reserve that was invisible from ground level. It is a simple example of what an aerial view adds: the problem was there, but only visible from above.
Source: Linkedin (link provided upon request)
What's next: drone as first responder
The next step is to fly from a police station to real incidents. The police aim to base the drone in Nijverdal and cover an area of more than 20 kilometres around it.
In December 2025 the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management proposed temporary restricted airspace around Nijverdal. It would let Politie Oost-Nederland test the drone-as-first-responder concept for a year: the drone launches from the station, flies autonomously to an incident and streams live camera and infrared images to the control room over 4G.
The work is part of Drone2Go, a joint programme of Dutch government bodies including the police, fire service, customs and coastguard, working towards a national drone network.
