UAVs in Law Enforcement: A Brief History and Their Future Together

In our last blog “UAVs in Emergency Management and Disaster & Emergency Response” we took a brief look at how UAVs have helped in emergency response and responding to disasters such as the 2017 Hurricane season. In the blog we are going to go deeper into how UAVs have been assisting law enforcement, and the history of their use in recent years.

Let’s start where it all began. In 2005, a fixed wing “drone” was used by Irwin County Sheriff's Office in Georgia to assist in the search for Tara Grinstead, a local teacher in Ocilla, Georgia. While the efforts of this flight did not result in the locating of the victim, the drone “Spectra” is thought to be the “Ground-Zero” for civilian police use of UAVs in the United States. In 2011, a US Predator drone was used to assist in an arrest in North Dakota. The UAV assisted in the arrest of Rodney Brossar by using its abilities to locate Mr. Brossar and his three-armed sons. The Predator was on loan from the Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Patrol.

In October 2012 the Seattle Police Department got federal grants to purchase 2 DraganflyerX6 aircraft, but by the end of February the mayor had shut down the program and the aircraft were returned to the manufacturer. They were one of the first departments to receive federal funding for UAVs. But as the benefits of UAVs became clearer, the approval got easier. 167 Departments in the US purchased UAVs in 2016, double that of 2015. But MANY more were purchased in 2017, with the plans of record breaking numbers in 2018.

In October of 2017 New York State announced plans of implementing 18 UAVs by April of this year. The UAVs will be used for Law Enforcement, Traffic Analysis and Emergency Response. The officers tasked with piloting these newly added UAVs will be FAA certified and complete 32 hours of training with all the equipment and UAVs. The training will take place at New York States newly developed UAV training site in Rome, New York.

On January 16, 2018 LAPD took another step towards their UAV program with a $31,500 donation. LAPD is looking to purchase 1 DJI Spark, 2 DJI Phantom 4’s and a DJI Matrice series UAV. LAPD has not yet flown any UAVs for law enforcement purposes, but hopes to get the program implemented in the coming months. The Top Law Enforcement UAVs purchased are the DJI Inspire Series and the DJI Matrice Series.

Now let's look at the uses of UAVs in law enforcement and their future utilization in the line-of-duty:

While many cities and departments to not yet allow for the use of unmanned aircraft for the purpose of law enforcement, the programs can be developed and many more departments, both small and large, are realizing the need and use of UAVs. Cities are also realizing the benefits of using unmanned aircraft, so many more departments are being given authorization to begin seeking out grants and looking into getting licenses for officers and selecting which UAVs work best for their potential uses.

Law Enforcement Agencies utilize UAVs for many uses, from search and rescue, to traffic collision reconstruction and 3D modeling, to sending the UAV ahead of officers to safely clear corners, to chasing fugitives or escaped convicts long enough for officers can get ahead of them. Even with the ways we listed here, there are many more ways UAVs can assist officers in the line-of-duty.

Police departments have begun to see the benefits of UAVs in law enforcement and many are looking at starting UAV programs in the next year. Federal grant money can be available to your department. For more information on what other capabilities UAVs have in Emergency Response, read our previous blog “UAVs in Emergency Management and Disaster & Emergency Response”.