The Montgomery County Police Department recently launched its Drone as First Responder (DFR) Pilot Program to provide air support to 911 or police generated calls for service in a safe, responsible, and transparent manner. The program has already made a difference, according to a story shared by County Executive Marc Elrich.
According to Elrich, a call for help that came from police detectives along Eastern Avenue and Kennett Street in Silver Spring who witnessed cars being broken into. They lost sight of the suspects around East-West Highway, but a drone was able to arrive within 30 seconds and use infrared technology to track their body heat. Two men were arrested and both had loaded weapons.
Overview: The DFR program consists of prepositioning an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) on top of a building within an operational area. When a 911 or police generated call for service occurs, the UAS will launch and fly to the scene of the call. If ground officers are still needed to respond, the UAS will stay over the scene until the call is stabilized at which time the UAS will return to the launch/landing location. The DFR program will help:
- Improve police response times.
- Allow MCPD to be more efficient with police resources.
- Provide real time information to ground officers to allow for better decision making.
- Assist with de-escalation of incidents to enhance safety for both officers and our community.
- Assist with locating and apprehending criminal suspects.