NPS-DDP, Autel Donate Drone Solution for Public Safety in New Jersey

Autel Robotics, National Public Safety Drone Donation Program (NPS-DDP) Team for Drone Donation to Seaside Park PD in New Jersey

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

The National Public Safety Drone Donation Program (NPS-DDP) has teamed up with Autel Robotics, Foxfury Lighting Solutions, SkyeBrowse and Pilot Institute for the donation of a drone to the Seaside Park Police Department in New Jersey. The donation comes complete with a lighting kit, FAA pilot class & 3D modeling reality software.

“It is a privilege to support underfunded public safety agencies across the country with life-saving drone technology! It is partners like those listed that help make our mission possible,” said Mark Langley, CEO of NPS-DDP

The donation is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. on September 26 at 1 Municipal Plaza, Seaside Park, NJ. Representatives from Autel Robotics, Foxfury Lighting Solutions, SkyeBrowse, Pilot Institute, and the National Public Safety Drone Donation Program will all be in attendance.

“We here at the Seaside Park Police Department are committed to providing the best service to our community. Seaside Park, NJ is a shore town located between the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay with almost two miles of beach, boardwalk, restaurants, amusement games, arcades, children’s splash park, and much more,” said a Seaside Park PD representative.

“In September of 2016, Seaside Park was the target of a terrorist bombing by Ahmad Khan Rahimi. Rahimi, who was inspired by ISIS and al Qaeda planted an IED on our boardwalk, along the route for the Seaside Semper Five Marine Corps Charity 5K race. The start of the race was fortunately delayed, had the race started on time, the bomb would have detonated as runners were passing by where Rahimi planted the device. This is another instance where a drone would have given us the tactical advantage of putting eyes in the area as opposed to placing First Responder directly in harm’s way.

“Every year we receive a number of calls for missing children in town. A drone would give us a greater chance of finding the child in a shorter time. As we all know, time is critical in these situations. We have also received a number of calls for swimmer’s/boaters in distress. Our beaches are not manned 24/7 with lifeguards and our fire department is volunteer. We are not equipped with a boat or jet ski. Earlier this week we were dispatched to a boater in distress in the Bay with three children on board taking on water. A drone would provide us with the ability to pinpoint the exact location of individuals as well as drop flotation devices.”

“We’re proud to support first-responders nationwide by providing equipment for lifesaving operations. We’re also proud to work with NPS-DDP as a partner in pursuing that shared goal,” said John Simmons of Autel Robotics. “We think the praise and trust shown for our drones by police and fire departments around the country is the greatest endorsement we can receive, and we hope to support communities and those who serve them for many years to come.”

“We are thrilled to be working with NPS-DDP in the hopes of bringing new technology to departments that can use it to keep their communities safe. We will donate a saddle and two D3060 lights,” said Antonio Cugini, Director of Marketing at FoxFury Lighting Solutions. “FoxFury Lighting Solutions offers drone lighting tools for anti-collision and search and rescue operations. Innovative, powerful, and designed for small UAV technologies. Innovative Solutions for all Your Safety Lighting Needs, when seconds count and lives are on the line – FoxFury has the tools you need to save lives. Our lighting solutions are for any industry in need of portable, reliable lighting solutions.”

“We believe in the mission of NPS-DDP to help put life-saving drone technology in the hands of public safety. We will donate a six-month license to the Seaside Police Department,” said SkyeBrowse CEO Bobby Ouyang. “The SkyeBrowse Software solution allows public safety to acquire mission-critical data for command staff with no advanced training required to make a highly accurate 3D model with just 1 tap in the SkyeBrowse app. Departments cleared crime scenes in 90 seconds, instead of 3 hours. Pre-planning is made easy, a 3-minute SkyeBrowse flight has been used to place snipers at events and spot hazmat runoffs. Scenes like this are cleared 90% faster with SkyeBrowse.”

“Pilot Institute is proud to support NPS-DDP in their efforts to bring additional resources to Public Safety agencies and help them do their job more efficiently and safely,” said Pilot Institute CEO Greg Reverdiau. “We currently support hundreds of public safety agencies across the country and look forward to continuing to do so with NPS-DDP’s help.”

“We are pleased to see companies of all types making donations in support of the NPSDDP mission to help put “Eyes In The Sky For Every Department In Need”™. The generosity of these types of donations cannot be underestimated as this hardware provides life-saving value in the hands of those who work so hard to protect the communities they serve,” added Langley. “Also, it provides a tremendous amount of economic benefit in saved man-hours. We encourage private citizens and any company including public safety to contact us to recycle any unused UAV back into service. If any of the drones that we receive are not suitable for public safety we have partnered with Women and Drones to donate these types of drones to STEM programs across the country to help benefit youth education.”