The De Soto Police Department has added a new drone to its equipment inventory.
“Drones are a thing of the future,” said Patrolman Rick Draper, the department’s Federal Aviation Administration-certified remote pilot. “They’re going to give smaller departments like ours the ability to get eyes in the sky.”
The De Soto Police Department acquired a DJI Avata 2 drone in the last year for use with barricaded suspects, but the new DJI Matrice 4 drone has many more capabilities, Draper said.
The department’s new drone, which Draper said cost about $5,500, is equipped with high-definition cameras, thermal imaging technology, GPS capabilities, live video transmission, precision mapping and advanced flight systems that allow it to operate safely in a variety of conditions.
This technology will assist officers with missing and endangered person searches, criminal investigations, documenting crime and crash scenes, disaster response, fire support, hazardous situations, tactical operations, search warrants and locating suspects or evidence in areas that may be difficult or dangerous for officers to safely access.
“Whether it’s an active shooter, a barricaded subject, we get scene overwatch,” Draper said. “We can see if people run out of the back door.
“We’ve got nursing homes in town. People with Alzheimer’s can get lost in the woods or kids with autism.
“In the last six months, we had to depend on Hillsboro Fire (Protection District) to bring their drone, which is very similar to ours,” he said. “They have a drone that has thermal capabilities, and we had kids lost in the woods. Being able to deploy (this new drone) quicker, instead of a half-hour, we can deploy within five minutes. We are reducing the risk of danger to (lost children).”
Draper said the drone also can be useful for natural events such as flooding.
“We’re able to get a little closer to people,” he said. “I don’t have it on there now, but it has a speaker capability so that we can do a pre-recorded message if we want or we can talk live.”
The drone’s thermal imaging capability allows operators to detect heat signatures during nighttime operations or in heavily wooded areas, increasing the likelihood of locating missing persons or individuals in need of immediate assistance while reducing risk to first responders.
“This investment provides our officers with another valuable tool to help protect lives, locate missing persons, document critical incidents and safely respond to emergencies,” said Chief Brent Steger. “While this technology enhances our capabilities, we are equally committed to protecting the privacy and constitutional rights of the citizens we serve. Our goal is to use this equipment responsibly, transparently and only when it serves a legitimate public safety purpose.”
Draper said the goal is never to infringe on people’s rights but to reduce the risk to officers by pinpointing a person’s location.
“We have policies in place that will prohibit the misuse,” he said, adding when, where and why the drone was used will be logged each time it is used. “We’re not just going to get it up and fly it around people’s houses to see what’s going on. It’s going to be used for specific targeted operations. We’re not going to use it as a tool to invade anybody’s privacy.”
Each battery for the new drone has a 45-minute run time and the department has five spare batteries.
“By the time I go through my sixth battery, my first battery will already be charged and ready to go so you almost have an endless supply of flight time,” Draper said.