Scottsdale Police Department launching new crime fighting drone program

PHOENIX – New crime-fighting drones are coming to Arizona skies due to the Scottsdale Police Department starting a new program to help aid police officers.

The department is the first in the state to use the drones-as-first-responder (DFR) program. The drones are intended to respond and provide up to date information to officers, reduce response times by law enforcement, and potentially resolve issues that don’t require an officer on sight.

“Being able to get eyes into the area and see what’s happening within seconds is providing us so much positive intelligence and helps us lead to capturing suspects as their carrying out crimes,” Rich Slavin, assistant chief of the uniformed services bureau for the Scottsdale Police Department told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

“Twenty-five years on the job, I know what these time delays mean in general so to see that we can actually get ahead of that power curve is very exciting.”

How will the DFR program work?

The drones are created by drone startup, Aerodome, and can travel 53 mph while operating in a three-mile radius.

The new drones will work in tandem with the Scottsdale Police Departments Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) which houses 5,000 cameras feeds to help prevent crimes.

In a situation where a major car crash occurred on a highway, the average response time for an officer may be five to seven minutes, according to Slavin. With DFR, a certified drone pilot at the RTCC can launch the drone and have it arrive the scene. Officers are able to receive a link from the RTCC to view the drone feed and make decisions on what they see before they arrive.

“I’m already making decisions now that I wouldn’t have had access to until that first officer was on scene,” Slavin said. “We’re responding better, smarter, more efficiently now with the use of something like this.”

There is potential that the drones can resolve low priority calls without sending an officer. Slavin points to instances like a disabled vehicle on a street. The drone can inspect the scene, see that the car is already being repaired or towed away and save an officer from being sent to the scene, allowing them to be available for high priority calls.

How the Scottsdale PD hopes to respect peoples privacy.

Concerns over how drones used by law enforcement can be used to invade peoples privacy or impact their civil rights have risen since the creation of DFR programs.

Slavin notes that the drones, when flying to a scene, will have their cameras pointed forward and not down as it passes by peoples backyards. Once at the scene, the pilot of the drone will begin to move the camera down and use it to inspect the scene and provide details to the police.

“We do want to be absolutely transparent about what we’re doing with these drones but recognize that they are 100% dedicated toward fighting crime and safety,” Slavin said.

When will the DFR program begin?

Slavin estimates that the first drone will go live in 60 days as long as the program avoids any technological issues and contract negotiations.

The department is using just one drone to start. It will be housed on top of a building in south Scottsdale and will be used a proof of concept for the program. Slavin notes that 50% of calls for service in Scottsdale are south of McDonald Drive.

“I’m gonna put it where I know it’s going to get used an awful lot so I can grab a lot of those metrics I’m looking to analyze and just see like, ‘Hey is this working the way we want it to work or do I need to tweak it,'” Slavin said.

Success will be measured by how well the drones respond to calls compared to actual officers and how this program leads to arrests on crimes committed, Slavin said. He adds that he is still looking at other ways to measure success.

“I want our program to be public. I want people to know, I want our community to know, that if you come into our city and commit a crime, we’re going to catch you,” Slavin said. “We maximize the use of technology and partnerships and communication to make sure that we apprehend people that are trying to victimize our citizens.”

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Colton Krolak contributed to this report.