Elk Grove, Calif., Introduces Drones as First Responders

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(TNS) — The Elk Grove Police Department plans to add three aerial drones to assist in the line of duty, a trend that many law enforcement agencies have recently adopted to contribute to service.

As a part of the Police Department’s Drone as a First Responder (DFR) program, deployed drones will amplify officers’ ability to respond to live 911-operator dispatch calls and send necessary resources to a scene for service, enabling staff to locate, report and track suspects and vehicles involved in ongoing crimes.

Department spokesperson Sgt. Jason Jimenez said the DFR program is in its first phase of implementation and expects everything to be running by the end of the year.

“The DFR program seamlessly integrates with the technology in our Real-Time Information Center (RTIC),” Jimenez said. “The program also enhances our ability to allocate resources efficiently. DFR pilots can arrive at any call within an average of three minutes anywhere in the city, allowing them to verify the validity of a call for service and potentially mitigate those calls without requiring officer response if unnecessary.”

EGPD special operations Lt. Nate Lange said the drone operator can listen to 911 calls in real time and send a drone to the specified location prior to the dispatcher relaying the message to the necessary agency.

The Police Department plans to install drones that have 360-degree coverage stationed strategically, docked on roofs in central, east and west Elk Grove.

According to the Police Department website, the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) program has manually deployed drones during life preservation missions such as: barricade situations, active shooters, apprehension of armed and dangerous fleeing suspects, high-risk search warrants, investigative scenes, missing persons incidents, search and rescue operations, disaster scene incidents, hazmat incidents, suspected explosive devices, pursuant to a warrant (search or arrest), special events, outside public agency assists, training missions and mutual aid support.

Jimenez said the difference between the DFR program and the department’s UAS program is that the UAS program is operated by having a second officer controlling the aircraft from atop a roof, while the DFR program allows drones to be controlled from the department’s headquarters.

The department is currently in the first phase, Jimenez said, testing out the radar system, obtaining clearance to fly and ensuring the drones are not interrupted by other aircraft, birds or anything that could cause an aerial collision.

The goal, he said, is to enhance safety and efficiency in Elk Grove. Drones will spawn from a fixed location within the city directly to the area where it needs to be utilized.

“These aren’t used for surveillance purposes. These are used strictly in response to calls for service,” Jimenez said. “You’re not going to see these just randomly flying around town just for the sake to randomly fly around town. If the community sees these flying, they are headed to or from a call for service.”

In a recent department video introducing the new drones, Elk Grove Police Chief Bobby Davis said the new drones will allow officers and other Elk Grove public safety agencies such as first responders, law enforcement and Cosumnes Fire Department to respond to service calls at a quicker pace.

“The drones as a first responder will allow our fire partners to see the scene as much as it would allow us and law enforcement to see a scene when responding,” Davis said. “Our fire partners will now be able to determine what resources are going to be needed so that they know that those resources will be freed up for other calls if they receive them at the same time, it’s a tool that we’ll be able to utilize across the public safety sector in the entire city of Elk Grove.”