UAS Make Their Way to California Police Department
The Modesto Police Department in Modesto, California, performed a demonstration of three UAS on Tuesday. The two Phantom 4 models and an Inspire 1 model, which all have the department’s logos painted on them, were manufactured by DJI.
The UAS and the pilots are still in training, but the drones have already been a major help within the community. Earlier this week, a UAS helped track a kidnapping suspect who was later apprehended and arrested. Police also said that they used a drone in the search efforts of a three year old who wondered away from her home.
While the UAS will provide an added boost for the department, they will have certain restrictions. They cannot be flown after dark, they can’t go higher than 400 feet and their flight time is limited to approximately 25 minutes. But the police in the department believe that there are many more positives than negatives when it comes to the UAS.
“It makes us move a little quicker than our officers on the ground can move,” says officer Jessica Smith, one of the three pilots of the UAS, via an article from Fox40.com. “It’s going to keep our citizens safer; it’s going to keep us safer.”
The goal is to eventually get eight to 10 UAS out patrolling around the county. Smith and the other two current pilots of the UAS all have licenses to fly, but future pilots will not be required to have one. The policies in place for the drones were written by the department in conjunction with rules from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Other uses of the UAS will include executing search warrants, disaster management, and gang and homicide investigations.
