Footage shows police drones being flown through a soft play area during training exercise

Video (click to play above) shows one of the police DJI Avata drones being followed as it navigated the colourful kid's obstacles, during a training exercise. Drone pilots have been honing their skills by navigating climbing frames, nets and slides at a soft play course.

A Lincolnshire Police spokesperson said the soft play provided "one of the most challenging environments" to test their abilities ahead of search and surveillance operations in the real world. Writing on X, they said: "We understand it may appear strange but it’s one of the most complex and challenging environments to refine our skills."

One person commented: "Great idea whoever thought of doing it there-presume it keeps them in one piece if it crashes into the soft areas?" The force replied: "Indeed but they are pretty strong even against a solid object. They have a pretty cool turtle mode that flips it back upright."

In response to another comment regarding their use, they said: "We use them for building searches where there is a threat or risk to officers. We have been very transparent about how we use it. Grows, Fire Arms incidents etc. Mostly indoors of course."

Another web user joked: "Drones would be useful for finding your kid at the end of the soft-play session."