Sydney police are using drones to chase suspects 500km away. Is a vulnerable town being targeted?

Moree in NSW is the ‘perfect location’ for remote drones, police say. But critics worry about impact of increased surveillance on local Aboriginal community Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A man jumps a fence and runs through a dry back yard. He passes a rusty trailer and jumps another fence in the regional New South Wales town of Moree. The man then tears through more back yards, leaping fences as he goes, before police officers close in from all sides. Eventually, he is captured and led away in handcuffs. It looks like a scene from a film. But the action captured on video is real. And the drone tracking the accused is being operated by police officers, not in Moree, but 500km away in Sydney. The man’s arrest in mid-January for an alleged machete attack marked the debut of what the NSW police force says is an Australian first. They have dubbed the trial “PolAir-Remote”. It relies on two drones that live in their own self-contained boxes on the roof of Moree police station. They are launched and controlled from Sydney and recharge automatically when docked. The state police minister, Yasmin Catley, s