The Seattle Police Department recently demonstrated how it’s newly acquired unmanned aircraft hovers and flies in a warehouse where police vehicles are stored.Officer Reuben Omelanchuk,one of department’s two officers trained to fly the aircraft said: “It’s very fun, but doing it safely can be stressful at times.”
The 3.5 pound Draganflyer X6 Helicopter Tech cost $41,000 and is operated with a handheld controller and two joysticks. It has cameras that take still pictures, videos and infrared shots that can be viewed live, but it has a battery life of less than 10 minutes. It can’t carry anything that weighs more than 35 ounces.
The FAA has set strict guidelines for the use of UAS in law enforcement, according to Lt. Greg Sackman, who runs the Police Department’s Arson/Bomb Squad and oversees the unmanned-aircraft programme.
FAA requirements state that UAS must be flown below 400 feet and remain within eyesight of an operator as well as an observer at all times.
Further, for safety reasons, police cannot fly UAS over an area with people, according to the FAA. In addition, Sackman said, the Police Department has drafted policies to prevent unauthorized, inappropriate or illegal use of the aircraft.
Those restrictions, coupled with the aircraft’s limitations, mean the Seattle police UAS will never be seen cruising around over crowds, fishing for information or surveilling people at random, he said.
Sackman said police primarily envision using the aircraft to take aerial photos of traffic collisions, or in situations where a person is barricaded in an area or building. The purpose would be to see if the person has hostages or weapons.
He said firefighters and smoke jumpers also have expressed interest in using the aircraft, which ultimately will be available to other public-safety agencies in the region.
“They want to use them to find hot spots,” he said. “Everyone who has seen it says, ‘we can use it.’ ”
Sackman, a Colonel in the Army Reserves, said that he saw firsthand the benefits of UAS during deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
“They save lives,” he said, describing how a convoy might send a UAS over a hill to see if troubles lay ahead.
Sackman said the money to buy the department’s two aircraft — one of which is in the hands of the King County Sheriff’s Office — came through a regional grant from the federal Urban Area Security Initiative.
Sackman said the cost to run the programme will be minimal and come from his budget.
While the department would like to have two officers trained, available and on-call 24 hours a day and seven days a week, that doesn’t mean it will cost the department two additional officer salaries, Sackman said.
He said that Omelanchuk and Officer Jim Britt, the other trained operator, will continue doing their regular police work when the drone is not needed.
“The law is glacial compared to the fast rate of technology,” she said, “so Seattle police will have the opportunity to be a leader if it can impose self-discipline and self-restraint.”
Source: The Seattle Times