The Clearwater Police Department has been exploring drone technology for years. Chief Eric Gandy and his team have used the unmanned aerial systems in SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) operations and high-risk situations.
CPD is utilizing a drone to help first responders address calls on Clearwater Beach through a pilot program this month. Choosing the spring break timeframe was ideal, Gandy explained to the Catalyst.
“We’ve done traffic studies out at Clearwater Beach and we saw 50,000 vehicles going over the Memorial Causeway bridge during spring break on certain occasions,” he said. “When you have crowds like that, I think the drone giving that bird’s eye view to a potential problem is a game changer.”
It can be way easier to locate a suspect, Gandy added. If the police have a good description of someone, the drone will be able to identify the individual. Typically, officers would have to search the entire premises – which can take a significant amount of time.
The program is a partnership with the Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department.
He explained that the drone goes to areas on the beach after a service call is received. “We can upgrade or downgrade those calls based on the information obtained.”
Sending the aerial system to determine the severity of the situation can not only get the issue resolved quicker, but act as a safety barrier. Once the drone arrives, it can observe if anyone has weapons, Gandy said. This can allow officers to approach the case “much more carefully and tactically.”
Additionally, the drone pilot can use the technology to see if there really is a disturbance at all. If there is not, CPD can cancel all first responder units from coming to the location. He added that the drone can also help identify missing children and “expedite” their recovery.
The product was created by Skydio. CPD has worked with the company previously.
This technology provides a “tremendous benefit,” Gandy explained. Research has shown its success around the country. Some agencies have reported that 20 to 30% of calls required less resources or could be canceled altogether based on the “deployment” of a drone.
However, he is hesitant to use the system city-wide. Gandy believes drones are best implemented in “small geographic areas with high concentrations of people and incidents.”
There are a variety of financial components to running a drone operation, he added, including personnel, hardware and software costs.
“If I can demonstrate that we can cancel resources 20% of the time and Fire and Rescue can cancel responses 20% of the time based on drone data, I can come up with a hard number of real savings,” Gandy said. “If the numbers work and the technology enhances safety, I will definitely contemplate how to incorporate it into a budget.”
The technology could have a “force multiplier effect” on CPD operations, he explained. Officers can spend their valuable time on more “pertinent issues.”
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