In the United States and all the countries, the drones help police in many different ways. Law enforcement is focusing on how to protect and serve their public communities better. Whether it is apprehending the suspects and finding the missing persons to reunify their family once again. Having technology in the right hands is always great. But it also serves as a double edge sword because the criminals can get their hands on it too.
In this article, I will talk about how drones help police agencies. A common question I see often is that the community is afraid that if the law enforcement acquires drones, it will give them the broad power to spy over their backyards and using military-grade weapons on it.
Fortunately enough, there is a law already in place that limits the scope of what the law enforcement agencies can do with the drones. There is no reason not to worry about such these type of drones will be used in the civilian sphere.
With the increasing number of drones being applicable in the law enforcement field. It is more than important for your police agency to craft and develop effective drone laws on how their officers should use them. Implementing the drones is another incredible toolset that will help law enforcement enhance their ability to protect and serve their public communities better. Here is why the drones help police agencies:
Apprehending The Suspect Escaping in a Car
Some cities like St.Petersburg and Oakland have enhanced a strict no chase policy with an exception if the suspect is believed to have committed violent crimes. This is a big deal for all the police agencies whose responsibility is to ensure the safety of the public.
To show you an example of a scenario where the “No-Chase” policy has an impact on the police agencies’ ability to prevent and reduce the crimes. Supposed that a driver breaks a law and a patrol officer sees him doing that. The officer turns on the siren and starts chasing the driver.
All of sudden, the driver speeds up and takes off on the highway at 80 miles per hour. According to the policy, the patrol officer must terminate the chase and turn off the siren. So in this law, the driver would be right.
The patrol officer calls in a remote pilot at the station and described what the suspect’s car looks like. With all the information that the remote pilot has received, he sends in a drone to locate the driver. Once he detected the driver, he relies on all the information back to the ground-based unit where they will deploy traps to catch the suspect.
The driver looks around and sees no police cars now relax down and tries to merge into the normal traffic. All of sudden, the police officers surprise the driver out of nowhere and apprehends him. The driver has no idea how they tracked him down.
All thanks to the drone that is quietly flying 300 feet above the ground level.
Defusing The Hostage Situation
The ground robots are already being used to defuse the bomb remotely from distance. But the aerial drones help police agencies manage hostage situations much more effectively. And here is how they do that.
Drones with powerful camera and the ability to use infrared vision systems such as Inspire 2 (See Price) and Phantom 4 Pro (See Price) are an indispensable tool for the law enforcement agencies. They will be able to scan and map out the routes for the team to blitz in. Furthermore, they can help locate and identify where the hostage is.
Not only the police agencies use drones to help them defuse the situations quicker and effective. The drones are also a great tool to establish communication between the targeted suspect and a police officer.
The drones are a cheaper alternative method for helicopters. They are easier to fly and can get away closer look at the situation compared to the fixed camera that the helicopters have. It is one of the primary reasons why more law enforcement agencies are opting for drones over helicopters.
Managing The Traffic
Spotting the road troubles with helicopters often is both costly and ineffective. With a fixed camera, you really can’t see the road troubles in detail. In Ohio, they are doing the test with drones monitoring the traffic. The university is interested in how the drones can help improve the effectiveness of traffic.
Although, it is not only the way the drones are being used to monitor for that purpose. Instead of having to send in three or four police officers to manage the traffic. A city can use their resource better by sending in a drone to assets the traffic and gather all the data necessary to solve the problem.
Annapolis is the leading example that uses the drones to address their decade’s old problem. The data that is gathered from the drone helps officials find the best route to manage traffic flow smoother and effective. As of a result, the drones help police reduce the wait time on traffic. Most importantly, people get back to their home and that is what makes them happy.
Search and Rescue
Believe it or not, the drones are amazing toolset for police agencies. Especially when it comes to search and rescue missions. When Hurricane Harvey battered Houston, thousands of people were displaced.
Several drone pilots came out to assist with search and rescue operations. Although to be clear with you, the Federal Aviation Administration explicitly stated flying drones in disaster areas are not authorized. Somehow they found a way to create wavier for some of these drone operators to assess the damages.
A drone is much more capable of locating missing people and delivering necessities over great distances compared to rescuers on the ground level. A real-life example of this happened where a man in Germany was having a heart attack obtained defibrillator from a drone.
Even so, the drones help police locate and find missing people quicker. The camera mounted on a drone can see so many things at the same time that makes it an extremely effective tool for search and rescue missions.
Locating Industries That is Committing Crimes
Several years ago, a man was flying his drone taking aerial pictures in Dallas. That was until he looked at the pictures much closer and wondered why the river has turned red. Wondering if it is legal for an industry to be dumping blood into the river stream.
He decided to do the right thing and reported to the law enforcement agency to investigate the case. Eventually, the meat-packing industry was charged with crimes for dumping the blood, citing that it is a valuable product, not waste.
Whatever they are doing is completely unsanitary and creates an unsafe environment for the residents who have access to tap water. In this kind of case, the drones are incredibly effective at targeting and locating industries, even suspects that are committing crimes.
Doing so will prompt the law enforcement to respond to the situations much faster and with prior knowledge of handling the case better. This is one of the many ways the drones help police solve crimes.
Monitoring The Crowds
Concerts, parades and sporting events come with a high price tag. Not to mention that they also require large manpower from the police agencies to monitor the crowds. The officers are deployed and directed to security gates and areas where there might be concerns.
This type of strategy leaves the officers to patrol one small portion of the area and “nothing” will happens.
Instead of that, integrating drone technology into the law enforcement agency’s toolset will provide the officers with a wide set of surveillance abilities. The drones help police by providing enhanced image zoom-in areas of interest. Thus, giving the officers the ability to assess the areas remotely and identify potential threats.
With the support of drone technology, it will provide immediate information from monitoring the crowd. Furthermore, it assists the police officers with making critical decisions about whether to send a ground-based unit to areas when it is necessary.
Surveillance
Finally, the drones help police improve their surveillance ability. They are capable of seeing places and eliminating the blind spots that have plagued fixed cameras for a long time. The drones are making a major leap in the business world to improve their security.
A drone does what a simple man can’t do within a few minutes. The remote pilot can be assigned to scan the parking lot periodically. Furthermore, the drone can be mounted with a zoom camera to get a closer look at a potential suspect. Which is something that fixed cameras cannot often do so?
There are times where the fixed cameras failed to catch the shoplifters and thefts from retail stores. This leads the retail store having to file a loss claim which they will be reimbursed for items that were stolen at the expense of taxpayers.
Instead of that happening, they can hire one or two remote pilots to scan outside property every half hour or so. The drones will be able to capture everything in its camera. Also, they make a great deterrence device to keep people away from stealing items and protecting the companies’ investments.
The Drones Help Police Agencies Serve Public Better
There are many ways the drones help police perform their jobs better. By being able to gather the data more effectively, the police officers can assist the public quicker. People might think the drones negatively because of their connotation uses in military warfare.
But it is nowhere that remotely true in the civilian sphere. Having drones as a supplemental tool overusing a helicopter is a much cheaper and effective way to do so. Especially for those cash-strapped police agencies. It can provide an incredible toolset to help police officers solve crimes and improve the overall safety in their communities.
Even several new positions are being open for pilots who are majoring in criminal justice. The drones have demonstrated its potential value for their ability to gather aerial intelligence. In exchange, law enforcement is becoming capable of doing its job better.
With several law enforcement agencies considering to create and expand their drone programs. The advantages that the drones have is something that the police agencies can’t pass on. Somewhat in the few years, you might be hearing a drone buzzing overhead from a police officer.
They will be doing their job to serve and provide better service for your community. The drones help police agencies and they are here to lead the changes. Not only the drones are beneficial, but there are also many jobs to be created. Especially criminal justice. Let us know what you think of law enforcement agencies using drones and why.
We are looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Until then, take care and happy flying!
