Drones will be playing a bigger role in Arlington policing with the expansion of the Drone as a First Responder program, according to a news release from Arlington police.
The Drone as a First Responder program, or DFR, was created to help respond to fireworks calls on July 4 and New Year’s Eve weekends, according to the release. Now, it’s being used to respond to calls about shootings, domestic violence, burglaries, missing persons and other crimes.
The program, already operating in the city, intends to provide important, real-time information to officers responding to emergency calls, according to police.
Drones don't have to navigate roadways or deal with traffic, meaning they’re often able to reach a scene faster than real officers and provide information on suspects, weapons and vehicles.
That means officers are able to make better informed decisions that put themselves and the public at less risk, police said in the release.
Arlington Police Sgt. Robert Robertson is head of the department’s aviation unit. He said drones can also help prevent awkward situations or unnecessarily tense interactions between police and the public.
“We had a call here recently where we had a report of an individual that was waving a firearm around, but the drone actually beat the officers to the scene and we were able to determine that the suspect was actually waving a cell phone around rather than a firearm,” Robertson told KERA News.
Drones were used to locate the 17-year-old suspect in the Bowie High School shooting April 24 last year, Robertson said. The shooting resulted in the death of an 18-year-old student.
Police have also credited the program with helping to reduce overall crime in the city by 5% last year.
The expansion comes after the Federal Aviation Administration named the Arlington Police Department as one of the first agencies in the nation to receive a waiver for Beyond Visual Line of Sight. It allows police drone pilots to fly further than unmanned aerial vehicles are typically permitted from inside the department’s real time crime center.
Drones can fly as far as 1.5 miles from docking stations at the real time crime center and in the entertainment district and reach speeds of up to 50 mph, according to police.
“I want to be clear that DFR does not replace our traditional police response,” Police Chief Al Jones said in the news release. “But this technology presents significant opportunities for us to better serve our community, which is why we are embracing it. The faster we can put eyes on a situation, the safer the outcome for everybody.”
Robertson said privacy has been a top concern police have worked to address.
“We’re not using it for surveillance or indiscriminate monitoring, traffic violations,” Robertson said. “We’re not using it for things like that. We’re using it for real-world police calls, 911 calls, emergencies, trying to introduce technology to help better protect the citizens.”
He said they won’t record video while en route to a call for service and will only record video at the scene if there's a legitimate, law enforcement reason to record. Robertson said that, in theory, drones could be used for surveillance with a search warrant, but that’s not something that has been done nor is it the purpose of the program. The policies also require that all flights be logged and subject to audit.
The department has to submit two reports a year to the state detailing all drone deployments and has published its latest report on the department website.
This story has been updated to include comments from Arlington Police Sgt. Robert Robertson.
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