Law-enforcement officials in Ohio hope that drone deployment may make their jobs more effective and trim down their aerial budgets.
Several departments across the Buckeye State are reporting successful uses of UAV tech to complement or even replace more expensive helicopters.
WSYX reports: “If departments are successful in establishing drone projects, the unmanned aircraft will be whizzing 400 feet above neighborhoods.”
During a recent workshop, Aeryon Labs Inc. taught local police and fire departments the basics of drone deployment.
The Canadian company is fast becoming a leader in public-safety drone tech. In 2014, the company announced that the Michigan State Police had agreed to standardize its statewide drone deployment with Aeryon’s SkyRanger quadcopter models.
In October, Microsoft announced inclusion of SkyRanger in its Advanced Patrol Platform car for use by law enforcement.
“There will be an unmanned aircraft of some type in every police car, in every fire truck, at least in the country,” Aeryon representative Donald Shinnamon told WSYX. “The applications for public safety are tremendous,” he added.
Public-safety agencies continue to find new uses for drones – search-and-rescue, event security, traffic investigation and even crimes of a “kite nature.”
“[Drone use] puts a machine in harm’s way instead of a human being,” Columbus firefighter Wes Spradlin stated in a TV interview. “We go into situations not knowing anything. The more information, the faster we can get it, the more lives can be saved and the less danger we can put ourselves into,” he added.
Shinnamon told the media that 30 law enforcement agencies had drone deployment projects in place (note: given the percentage of police drones covered by DRONELIFE, we suspect this number could be even higher).
“It’s unclear which departments in Central Ohio will invest in unmanned aircraft,” reporters Amanda Burger and Brooks Jarosz said. “It’s still early.”
Ohio is following in the footsteps of several other “Game of Drones” states including Arkansas and Kansas as well as Massachusetts and Tennessee.
Jason is a longstanding contributor to DroneLife with an avid interest in all things tech. He focuses on anti-drone technologies and the public safety sector; police, fire, and search and rescue.
Beginning his career as a journalist in 1996, Jason has since written and edited thousands of engaging news articles, blog posts, press releases and online content.
Email Jason
TWITTER:@JasonPReagan
Subscribe to DroneLife here.
Well,now we know why governments wanted restrictions on private drone use and registration of drone users.They want the toys to themselves.What a great way to spy on the public while saving money.This smells phony,as a benefit to the public.It’s just an excuse to get the public acclimated to domestic surveillance at all times.
Actually, police agencies have to comply with the very same regulations as the public. So, to state they “want the toys to themselves” is not based on any factual evidence. Also, most states are enacting further restrictions on police drone use — requiring the same standard of probable cause and search warrant application currently in use. A police drone is no different than a police helicopter in its potential use.