Kentwood, Mich., Police Getting Drones for Searches, Tracking

(TNS) — The Kentwood Police Department is getting three new drones that it can deploy in emergency situations like search and rescues or tracking down suspects who have fled a scene.

On Tuesday, Feb. 18, the Kentwood City Commission approved the purchase of one DJI Matrice 30T drone and two DJI Avata 2 tactical drones from Advexture for the city’s police department, in the amount of $15,650.

Kentwood launched its drone program in April 2024 with one DJI Matrice 30T drone, which has since been deployed 79 times and has received an additional 24 requests for deployment. The police department currently has 10 licensed drone pilots.

Kentwood Police Chief Bryan Litwin said drones have become a valuable tool for the police department, helping officers in a wide range of scenarios including finding missing persons, apprehending suspects and assessing the threat level of a scene without endangering people.

“We’ve had situations where we’ve had a potential drunk driver who fled a scene from a hit-and-run accident, and we were able to put the drone up at night and locate that individual hiding behind some bushes up next to a fence, and walk our team up to them safely and take that person into custody without anybody getting hurt,” Litwin said.

The new DJI Matrice 30T drone will provide another large drone that the police department can use if the first drone is already deployed, or if additional backup is needed, according to a memo presented to commissioners Tuesday.

The Avata 2 drones are compact tactical drones that can be flown inside of a building or structure, the memo stated. These drones can help officers to check out a scene without physically entering dangerous situations, avoiding putting themselves in harm’s way.

They also can be used to inspect hard-to-reach areas like confined spaces, or to assess buildings during hazardous situations like hazmat incidents.

“We have a pretty big industrial area here in Kentwood, so we can definitely see a use for that in those kinds of situations,” Litwin noted of hazardous situations.

Usage of drones by police departments isn’t new to West Michigan, with other departments in Grand Rapids, Holland and Walker already using them, as well as the Kent County Sheriff’s Office.

In addition to the purchase of the three new drones on Tuesday, the City Commission also approved an extension of the city’s contract with Motorola for software, bringing the total cost of the police department’s request to $20,200.

The purchases will be funded by the fiscal year 2025 police equipment fund, which totals $35,000 and will have $14,800 remaining for the year.

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