SUMMER is the perfect time for dipping into the water, but it’s also a season when more lives are lost to the currents.

To better prepare its officers for saving people in water emergencies, the border, harbor and waterway police held a drill yesterday on a river in Zhujiajiao Town, Qingpu District.

Wearing their uniforms and life jackets, four officers swam 50 meters from the shoreline to drag a 35-kilogram dummy back to land. In many circumstances, officers have to save people with no support equipment.

They also undertook drills with drones, charge boats and life buoys.

The officers who operated the drones flew them over the river to drop life buoys that inflated as soon as they hit the water. Drones are used to help save people who can’t be approached by boats or swimming lifesavers.

For Shanghai police, the most common way to save people from water is to approach them in a boat and provide life buoys, which requires excellent boat-driving and buoy delivery skills, also part of yesterday’s river drills.