Partly thanks to developments in police equipment and the acquisition of modern technology, the number of crimes has dropped to one third compared with 2010, Bence Rétvári told a press conference.

During the same period, the number of police has increased by 3,000 to 36,500, and Hungary has become the world’s 13th safest country, he added. In addition to traffic control, drones are being used to monitor areas that are difficult to access, he said.

They are also in use for revealing illegal migration at the southern borders, securing events, finding missing persons and illegal waste dumps, and crime scene investigation, he added.

István Jámbor, the head of national police’s traffic control department, said that police currently had 60 drones and some 300 officers had been trained to operate them.