The UK’s first police “spy drone” has taken to the skies reports the BBC

The remote control helicopter, fitted with CCTV cameras, will be used by officers in Merseyside to track criminals and record anti-social behaviour.

The drone is only a metre wide, weighs less than a bag of sugar, and can record images from a height of 500m.

It was originally used for military reconnaissance but is now being trialled by a mainstream police force.

While Wired reports that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will test an unmanned, remote-controlled surveillance plane.

If deputies want a birds-eye view of a standoff, they might scramble the unmanned drone instead of a helicopter to get a closer, quieter look.  Within minutes, real-time color video would be streamed to a portable computer system manned by an officer 250 feet below.

Officials with the nation’s largest sheriff’s department said it is believed to be the first field test of drones by local police in a major U.S. urban area.

Much lighter and smaller than the military drones flown over Iraq and Afghanistan, and only a fraction of the cost, the aircraft is not much bigger than a model airplane and will initially be limited to scanning rooftops for break-ins and finding lost children or hikers.