Just to back up the Tigerfish comment about who got there first.....
First use of aircraft in police work - USA 1914
First police air support unit formed - Germany 1919
First use of rotary wing in police work - UK 1932
First use of helicopter in police work - UK 1952
First permanent use of helicopter in a police unit - Czech Republic 1953
First use of a movie camera for police purposes [rather than traffic] UK - 1975 [military Scout Marconi Heli-Tele in Ulster].
First civil use of a movie camera for police purposes [rather than traffic] UK - 1982
First civil use of a FLIR camera for police purposes [rather than traffic] UK - 1982 [they were seperate in those days].
Companies like Flying Pictures pumped out dual sensor cameras eventually and they first appeared on UK police aircraft in the West Country in the mid-late 1980s mainly promoted by PAS but I cannot date it exactly without researching.
Not sure I can plot the first mapping system and all the other gizmos so easily but with a few potential exceptions UK police have been up there and first users [and by inference the developing and testing to destruction customer] in the majority of instances far more often than some of you are admitting.
Do not decry those that went before you just because they are old gits and cannot get off the golf course to defend themselves - they were actually pretty good!
