Spy in the Sky: Met Police Deploy Swarm of Drones to Patrol London Skies - Watch the Video
- Editor Darren Birks
- Oct 24
- 2 min read
The Metropolitan Police are deploying a swarm of drones to patrol the skies over London in what has been called "an extreme form of surveillance" by civil liberty groups.
On October 23, 2025, the Metropolitan Police announced the launch of a network of 400 remotely operated drones that will patrol the skies over London. The drones which will operate 24 hours a day seven days a week will act as 'first response' and are able to be overhead anywhere in the city within 2 minutes of a 999 call.
The “FR Drones,” are equipped with facial recognition cameras that can scan thousands of faces a second as well as providing live HD imagery for police to view remotely. The drones are being trialed in three areas including Islington but the plan is to deploy them across the entire city next year.
Met Police Chiefs claim that the drones represent progress and will be used to help lower response times, locate suspects, find missing persons and 'capture evidence' than using traditional methods.
However civil liberties advocates at Big Brother Watch are raising the red flag, labelling police drone use as “sinister” and an “extreme, militaristic form of surveillance.” Director Silkie Carlo has warned of profound threats, stating, “Drones are an extreme form of surveillance… We’ve seen too many examples of overreach.”
Their 2023 State of Surveillance Report exposes how drones, paired with facial recognition, amplify racial biases—false positives hitting people of colour up to 81% higher—and disproportionately target marginalized communities, jeopardising “our freedom to enjoy a private life.” Despite Met consultations, Big Brother Watch argues this rollout propels the UK toward a surveillance state where daily life and dissent are perpetually monitored under security’s guise.
With every addition of new tech, laws, and freedom restrictions, one should reasonably expect crime rates to plummet. Yet, data reveals this has never truly happened. Every draconian measure is touted as a crime-stopper, but it never delivers.
Big Brother Watch’s report notes CCTV impacts just 1% of criminal cases, while a Home Office review found no crime reduction from similar programmes. Despite massive CCTV expansion since the 2000s, London’s crime rose from 938,020 in 2023/24 to 951,803 in 2024/25.
Studies show CCTV marginally reduces some property crime, but has no effect on violent crimes whatsoever. Drones aid operations—located just 721 suspects across the entire nation in 2024 and has had no effect on conviction rates.
The Stark Facts: Surveillance by the Numbers
• Drone Dominance: UK forces already operate nearly 400 drones, with 95% adoption across forces. Between Oct 2024-Mar 2025, police launched 26,584 drone flights but despite all that showed no provable reduction in crime rates.
• Facial Recognition Fiasco: 81% error rate in Met trials; over 2,000 warrantless data grabs annually, biases per NIST.
• CCTV Chokehold: 6 million UK cameras, 627,000 in London alone means Brits are now the most surveilled people on earth.
Yet, despite all this, knife crime, street robbery, rape, and even terrorism are all still on the rise. As drones are set to swarm overhead, Big Brother Watch are demanding an immediate halt to this digital dystopia.
Related:
Comments