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Toronto Police have released video footage of a harrowing rescue of a family — including a one-year-old girl — from Rouge National Urban Park earlier this month.
In a news release issued on Friday night, police said officers from the Air Support unit were called to assist 42 Division with a “check address” call after a couple and their one-year-old daughter became “disoriented in dense bush while hiking near a stream” in the national park.
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Police said air support responded to the Steeles Ave.-E.-Reesor Rd. area of Markham and deployed a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) to begin the search.
Dispatch advised the lost family to use the ‘What3Words’ app — a free navigation tool that assigns three-word addresses and allows users to find, share and navigate to precise locations.
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Cops said the RPAS quickly located the family in some thick brush within the 79.1-square-kilometre park, the largest of its kind in North America, spanning portions of Toronto, Markham, Pickering and Uxbridge.
“Air Support officers first tried to guide the family out using verbal directions,” police said in the Friday news release, “but the rugged terrain made it unsafe for them to navigate alone with a small child. 42 Division uniform officers then entered the extremely dense vegetation to help with the rescue.”
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OPP chopper deployed
Air Support officers used an OPP helicopter crewed with a Toronto Police tactical flight officer, working in coordination with the RPAS to guide the officers.
Using live aerial views and precise digital coordinates, officers reached the family and guided everyone safely out without further incident.
The rescue can be seen throughout nearly four minutes of video footage.
“The incident underscores how Toronto Police are modernizing their response to calls for service, combining drones, air support and digital mapping tools to improve safety, speed and outcomes for both the public and officers,” Toronto Police said.
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