Drones are bringing in a revolution in public safety in the same way that technologies like body-cams have done in the past. They are making incident response operations not only safe and effective but also remotely visible and manageable. In a study conducted by the Bard Institute, it was found that 910 state and local law enforcement personnel in the US have used drones for law enforcement or any other public safety operations.
How Drones are Being Used by Police Departments
In a 2018 guide from policeone.com, a survey was conducted asking more than 200 police officers in the US about how their respective departments are using UAVs. Below are the top findings:
83% of the respondents said that UAVs were used for search and rescue.
79% said that UAVs were used for disaster management.
76% said that UAVs were used for SWAT operations.
71% said that UAVs were used for monitoring crime and traffic.
In the same survey, it was also found that drones from DJI were mostly preferred.
Benefits of Using Drones in Law Enforcement
Drones are being rapidly adopted by various law enforcement agencies throughout the world because of the following advantages:
Drones are ideal first responders: Drones are faster than conventional vehicles when used as first responders. They can reach a location within minutes after receiving an emergency request, and aerially assess the situation before human responders arrive.
Drones are a cost-effective way to conduct aerial surveillance: The conventional method of deploying a manned helicopter is expensive and time-consuming, and may not be suitable for situations that require an immediate response.
Drones can potentially save lives: Drones can be equipped with various attachments depending on the task; these payloads can be controlled by a single officer from a safe distance. This is useful in dangerous situations like counter-insurgency, hostage rescue, car-chase, etc. where a police officer can engage a perpetrator from a safe distance without risking the officer’s life. In a recent event, AirWorks 2019, DJI has announced that 279 lives were saved by using drones in various emergency operations.
Drones are a potent public safety tool: Drones can cover a large area easily, and they can be equipped with thermal sensors. These make them effective in search and rescue operations.
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Types of Drones Used by Police Departments in the US
From our interactions with public safety users, we found that drones for public safety solution can be equipped with thermal sensors and a camera with high zoom capability are most preferred for first responder operations. Both off-the-shelf and custom drones are used for police operations, such as:
What Kind of Payloads are Used for Incident Response Drones?
Drones give people access to the sky, and an aerial view of the activities happening on the ground, especially via payloads that are integrated with commercial drones. Here are some payloads that are used for police and public safety operations:
Optical sensors: In the context of drone technology, these are devices that can record high definition videos, some examples include:
Zenmuse Z30 is a camera from DJI that has a 30X zoom, which can be helpful in operations involving surveillance and tracking.
Zenmuse X5S is another capable camera from DJI that can easily shoot 4K videos.
Thermal sensors: These are devices that can render infrared radiation, which is not visible to the eyes, into visible colors. Various shades of blue and red are used to denote a range of temperatures. Some of the popular payloads include:
DJI Zenmuse XT
FLIR Vue Pro
FLIR Duo Pro
FLIR Tau 2 To know about the factors to consider when selecting a thermal camera for a commercial drone application, read this blog.
Loudspeakers: Large drones are capable of carrying loudspeakers, which can be used for making announcements and for crowd control.
Spotlights: These are important payloads for night-time or low visibility operations, especially for search and rescue missions.
Beacons: Beacons help drones to stay visible in the sky especially during night time, thus warning others of their presence.
FlytNow is a cloud-based drone fleet management solution that can be used to deploy an effective first responder system, where drones are controlled and managed from a unified dashboard.
The solution leverages 4G/LTE/5G networks for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) or Extended Visual Line of Sight (EVLOS) flights and for the streaming of high definition (HD) quality videos. Below is an illustration of how the system works:
The following features of FlytNow can enable drone for law enforcement for officials in the following ways:
Live video monitoring
A drone connected to the Flytnow system can send high quality, live video feed directly to the cloud dashboard; from there, an operator has the option to share the stream with multiple, remote stakeholders.
This feature played a crucial role during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in India. A startup called Dronelab with the help from volunteers and the police flew drones all over Ahmedabad (an Indian city in the state of Gujarat) and streamed their video feed directly onto the FlytNow dashboard at the central control room.
This allowed the authorities to keep a watchful eye for people breaking social distancing norms, or violating the lockdown imposed by the government.
“According to Nikhil Methiya, Director of Dronelab, The “FlytNow solution has played an important role in our operations to mitigate the public health impact of COVID-19. It allowed us to deploy drones at scale, and features like live video streaming and guest-sharing helped us fulfill our aerial monitoring objectives while keeping the necessary authorities in the loop.”
Thermal Camera Integration
Thermal sensors are useful in missions like search and rescue, night-time surveillance, firefighting, etc. With FlytNow, remote drone operators can stream thermal feeds from multiple drones and gain better situational awareness of an evolving situation, and thus assist ground operators in real-time.
A single operator can use the FlytNow dashboard to control multiple drones, including the camera gimbal of each drone. Such a capability is quite useful in operations that require the coverage of a large area from multiple perspectives; for example, search and rescue, surveillance, manhunt, etc.
Map Annotation and Video Archive
An operator using the FlytNow dashboard has access to a map with the real-time location of all drones connected to the system. During a mission, the operator can pin crucial information captured by a drone directly onto the map.
The feature is useful to highlight evidence or other important details during aerial missions. The cloud-connected platform supports the storage of video in a secure, external, public/private cloud server, so that videos captured during a mission can be reliably archived.
Intelligent Mission Planning
A mission is a set of instructions that tells a drone how to reach a location and what to do once it reaches the location. This feature can be used to dispatch drones to a particular location in the event of an emergency.
Phirst Technologies, a US-based company, developed a solution called First iZ using FlytBase & FlytNow, which integrates with the CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system to power the 911 service in Tyler, Texas, US. The solution allows 911 operators to remotely dispatch drones as first responders, to an emergency site, from a unified dashboard. Read the full case study.
Hardware Agnostic Platform:
Drones are like tools; depending on the task, different kinds of drones are required for police activities. FlytNow as a platform is hardware agnostic since it supports both off-the-shelf, as well as custom drones based on PX4 and Ardupilot autopilots.
Summary
In this blog, we learned the benefits of using drones for law enforcement and public safety. We also covered what kind of drones and payloads are suitable for police departments and first responder, and how FlytNow enhances such operations.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q 1. Can law enforcement agencies use drones?
Ans: Yes! Drones are already in use by law enforcement agencies. In a study conducted by the Bard Institute, it was found that more than 300 state and local law enforcement officials are already using UAVs in some way or the other.
Q 2. Can law enforcement fly UAV over private property?
Ans: The ownership of the airspace above a private property generally ends beyond 50 feet. So any licensed drone can fly at that height over any property. Still, the intricacies of the law will defer from country to country.
Q 3. How drones can be deployed by law enforcement agencies?
Ans: Drones can be deployed in the traditional sense, where a pilot in the field operates a drone via an RC close to the scene of action. But the modern approach leverages the cloud infrastructure to deploy drones from a base station without human intervention. The entire operation is controlled using a fleet management system that provides a unified dashboard and integration with response systems like the 911.
Q.4 What are the Best Law Enforcement Drones?
Ans: 1. Surveillance: Police drones can be used to monitor large crowds or areas for suspicious activity, such as illegal gatherings or drug deals.
2. Search and Rescue: Police drones can be used to quickly locate missing persons or suspects in large areas.
Drones provide an invaluable resource that can be used to search areas of ground terrain too dangerous or difficult to access on foot. They also can search large open areas more quickly than ground searchers, and thermal optics can help identify and locate heat signatures of people during both day and night operations.
Critics of drone surveillance argue that the use of drones for surveillance infringes on citizens' rights to privacy. Many argue that such technology has the potential to be used to conduct unwarranted surveillance on citizens, and that such surveillance would be virtually undetectable.
Drone security is a rapidly expanding industry apart from agriculture, but it is also very helpful for managing farms. Drones can monitor remote sections of a farm without having to travel there, saving time and enabling more regular monitoring of difficult-to-reach areas.
Disaster response drones can also be outfitted with thermal imaging cameras and spotlights. This allows relief workers to locate heat signatures that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye. Emergency responders can also use drones to provide aid and relief by flying in emergency supplies (food, water, medicine, etc.)
Drones can be used to collect data about the weather, climate change and pollution. They can also be used to study animals in their natural habitat. Drones are changing the way scientists do research and they are providing new and exciting insights into the world around us.
They are mostly used for surveillance in areas and terrains where troops are unable to safely go. But they are also used as weapons and have been credited with killing suspected militants.
Drone pilots operating under Part 107 may fly at night, over people and moving vehicles without a waiver as long as they meet the requirements defined in the rule. Airspace authorizations are still required for night operations in controlled airspace under 400 feet.
So you probably want to know exactly how far away a drone camera can see. What is this? A high-quality drone camera can see 1,500-2,000 feet away during the day. At night, drone cameras can pick up an image about 165 feet away before it becomes blurry.
With a drone using thermal imaging, it is possible to find suspects by the body heat they give off. This effectively allows law enforcement to see through any obstacles a suspect uses to evade them, leading to a more efficient capture.
Drone planes can enter narrow and confined spaces, produce minimal noise, and are equipped with night-vision cameras and thermal sensors. For this reason, they provide imagery that the human eye is unable to detect. UAVs can quickly cover large and difficult-to-reach areas, reducing staff numbers and costs.
In future, drones will transport supplies to the remote or inaccessible areas. They will deliver medical supplies and vaccines to remote locations, dangerous places, inaccessible places as well as places affected by war or contagious diseases.
In the United States alone, there are more than 850,000 drones registered to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). 321,000 of them are registered as commercial drones, while more than 529,000 units are recognized as recreational drones.
Small, remotely operated Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS), also commonly referred to as drones, are an efficient and effective way of providing law enforcement critical information to respond to calls for service and emergency situations, or to conduct criminal investigations.
Drones offer an alternative solution to traditional methods of conducting search and rescue operations. They provide a bird's eye view of the scene and allow rescuers to perceive the environment in a way that would be otherwise invisible to human eyes (thermal imaging).
UAV communications systems work by using one frequency to control the aerial vehicle from the ground via a remote pilot while the other frequency is used to beam data or relay First-Person View (FPV) video.
As the most common drone power source, you're probably familiar with LiPo batteries. LiPo powers more than just drone batteries; they power a wide variety of electronic devices. The benefits of this power source are their light weight, ability to store decent amounts of energy, and high discharge rates.
We all know drones can be very useful for moving payloads through the air, but how much weight can a drone lift? The answer to this question depends on an abundance of variables but ranges from 4 grams (0.14oz) all the way up to 8kg (17.6lbs) with today's available technology.
UAVs do a better job in protecting civilians because they provide real-time pictures of situations as they develop on the ground. You can act more quickly and more decisively. They also provide better security to our people because you get prior warnings that an ambush or an attack is about to happen.
The most common hazard when operating an RPAs is the likelihood of your drone crashing into someone or something. Drones will crash. For this reason it is essential that your flight planning process includes an identification of objects and people you could potentially crash into.
A drone can be hacked by intercepting the signal between the drone itself and the person controlling it. This would be impossible if the signal is encrypted, but many drones use unencrypted communication. This allows a hacker to use a packet sniffer to determine how communication is occurring.
Yes, drones can hear conversations. Drones are able to hear conversations because they are equipped with microphones and speakers. The microphones allow them to pick up sounds and frequencies that humans can't hear, while the speakers allow them to communicate back to humans.
Drones hamper law enforcement and medical aircraft when flown near a crime scene or accident. Drone pilots who interfere with emergency response may be fined up to $20,000 for a first offense.
How Do You Spot A Police Drone At Night? During nighttime operations, police drones are equipped with distinctive red and green lights, akin to those seen on airplanes. The red lights are positioned on the left side of the drone, while the right side features green lights.
No, police drones are not currently capable of seeing through walls. While some drones are equipped with advanced cameras and sensors, including thermal imaging cameras, they are not capable of seeing through solid objects such as walls.
A police drone's flight time depends on the capacity of the battery installed. Most drones come with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack. The maximum flight time per charge varies depending on the model. Most enterprise-grade drones used in police work can stay in the air for more than 30 minutes.
When the feds decided to target you for an investigation involving federal contracts, they are common signs to watch out for ( see below). The most common signs of being under investigation include talking to your friends, employees acting abnormally, and even an investigator leaving a business card on your door.
Police drones have infrared cameras and thermal imaging capabilities that allow them to see through walls and windows. They are able to do this through a process called Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR). This kind of vision doesn't just work in daylight; it also works at night—even if there is no moonlight!
At under $2000 fully equipped (including a daylight readable live-view screen), the DJI Air 2S with Smart Controller is affordable enough to issue as standard equipment for each squad that needs a police drone.
How do they work together to keep the drone flying? A gyroscope measures the rate of rotation and helps keep the drone balanced. Gyroscopes are devices that consist of a mounted wheel that spins on an axis that is free to move in any direction. They're used to provide stability or maintain a reference direction.
Drones could improve safety at large events by monitoring and controlling crowds: if you are looking from above you can see things developing that you can't see from the ground, so they could be valuable for the police, security services and fire services.
Since the majority of commercial drones systems interact with their base using unencrypted communication channels, they can become vulnerable to exploitation by a cyber criminal who can intercept and have access to sensitive data drone exchanges with the base such as pictures, videos, and flight paths.
What is a follow me drone? Quite simply, a follow me drone is one that follows you or a subject of your choosing autonomously. Not only does this make for a much easier piloting, photographing and videoing experience, but it also makes for more natural shots – especially if you want or need to be in them.
Police drones are equipped with high-resolution cameras and other sensors that allow them to capture detailed images and videos from the air. This makes them useful for surveillance and reconnaissance operations, such as monitoring large events, crowds, and crime scenes.
For one thing, US law prohibits disabling of aircraft; DoD or Homeland Security may be authorized to disable a drone they identify as a terrorist threat (let's say at the Super Bowl) but local police or stadium security cannot legally bring the drone down under current law.
Introduction: My name is Dr. Pierre Goyette, I am a enchanting, powerful, jolly, rich, graceful, colorful, zany person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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