Phuket chosen to pilot Tourist Police drone and AI safety model
The Tourist Police are developing the Phuket Model, using drones, 3D terrain databases and AI to support patrols, crowd monitoring and search-and-rescue operations.
Phuket has been selected as a pilot area for a Tourist Police initiative using drones and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve safety operations and emergency response.
The initiative, known as the “Phuket Model”, was discussed during a Tourist Police visit to the Seabed Grand Hotel in Wichit on 12 September 2026. Pol Lt Gen Saksira met representatives of the Tourist Police, Phuket’s tourism industry and the private sector to discuss operational challenges and local recommendations.
According to the Tourist Police Bureau, the programme will use drones to survey tourist attractions and create three-dimensional databases of the terrain. The data is intended to help officers plan patrols and respond to incidents in difficult areas such as mountains, forests and rocky terrain.
Drone imagery will be integrated with AI systems that can count people and vehicles, define monitoring zones, detect possible altercations and traffic accidents, and read vehicle licence plates. The bureau said the technology could help officers assess situations more quickly and plan rescue routes when tourists become lost or injured.
The bureau said 128 drones and 32 drone patrol vehicles had been supplied to tourist police stations nationwide for surveillance, incident prevention and search-and-rescue operations. It also said 1,250 Tourist Police officers nationwide had received Taser training and that 450 Taser units had been supplied.
The bureau said the Taser training emphasised using the devices appropriately and only when necessary, with the safety of tourists, the public and officers prioritised. The Phuket meetings were part of efforts to coordinate safety operations between government agencies and private-sector partners.
