The Los Angeles Police Department, which operates a fleet of helicopters, does not use drones for 911 calls - although officials there say they use them in limited circumstances in tactical situations.
Over the past two years, the program has spread rapidly around Los Angeles - Beverly Hills and Redondo Beach have adopted it, in addition to Santa Monica, as have a dozen or so other departments nationwide. The first-responder program got its start in 2018 in Chula Vista, near San Diego, where drones can cover the entire city after officials obtained a waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly outside a pilot’s line of sight. Police have long dabbled with drones, but using them to respond to 911 calls is relatively new and rare. … For us, breaking the faith, using it irresponsibly - any benefit that we would get will never outweigh the benefits that it gives us.” He added: “This technology is in its infancy. “We don’t randomly fly over the city looking for people doing anything wrong.” “We respond to 911 calls for service,” said Lashley, a former art director at a Chicago advertising agency. Their proliferation is also likely to prompt fears about risks to privacy and a renewed debate about the balance of power between ordinary people and their government.
Center street electronics drone station series#
That insight allowed officers to respond much less aggressively.Īt a time when law enforcement agencies face a crisis of legitimacy amid a series of high-profile murder cases against officers, police say drones could make a huge impact by defusing potentially violent situations. On at least three occasions, it provided responding officers with critical, otherwise unobtainable information - that what looked like guns in the hands of subjects were not real firearms. In Santa Monica, the drone camera was the only witness to a brutal robbery, and one of two suspects was apprehended and convicted.
Center street electronics drone station license#
The drone’s powerful camera can provide a view of several square blocks, or it can zoom in close enough to read a license plate. “It’s a fundamental change in the way that we can bring policing services to our city,” said Peter Lashley, a veteran of the force who often pilots the drone from a screen-filled command center inside the police station.
0 kommentar(er)
