Every Captain or Chief in any first responder specialty will confirm their needs: faster response times, increased safety for responders, and budget-friendly operations. Drones deliver this. Incident commanders are not only witnessing a dramatic reduction in response times—from four minutes to 90 seconds—but a decrease in ground resource deployment by 20%[1].
This groundbreaking approach, leveraging high-quality mobile drone cameras, provides an unprecedented level of onsite situational awareness, revolutionizing the way emergencies are handled across various disciplines and on a budget.
Further gains in efficiency and adoption will likely come from easier regulations allowing much more drone use with Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) allowances. This means more autonomous flights for faster responses, and/or fewer highly trained resources deployed to fly drones during major incidents. Coupled with advanced Common Operating Picture (COP) solutions, a new era is being ushered in for incident commanders with the highest situational awareness.
This paper illustrates how the technology is reshaping emergency response strategies, through the implementation of advanced COP solutions. This sets the stage for further gains in safety, speed, and fiscal prudence in first responder operations. Let’s take a look at how police and fire are benefiting today.
Police Department Drone Adoption
More than 1,500 U.S. departments are using drones today with Drones as a First Responder (DFR) approach gaining traction reaching sites within 90 seconds using both piloted and autonomous flight plans. This rapid response resolves calls or incidents more efficiently without dispatching patrol cars or officers. The Elizabeth Police Department, NJ[1], reported a 21% drop in patrol cars dispatched over 1,400 DFR flights in 2022, and the Chula Vista Police Department, CA[2]., by 23% over 4,000 DFR flights since 2018. Today, only 255 departments1 have BVLOS waivers to extend these benefits further in communities across the country.
Fire Department Drone Use
For firefighters, early intervention in fires is critical. In 2022, fires caused $18 billion in damages. More than one-third, 35%, occurred in or on structures resulting in $15 billion or 83% of the total cost of damages in 2022[3]. Drones, especially those equipped with thermal imaging, provide real-time data on fire spread and intensity, enabling strategic responses. This technology could reduce damages significantly, translating into billions in savings.
The Future of Incident Command
Integrating GIS (Geographic Information System) with drone capabilities is crucial. This fusion forms a comprehensive Common Operating Picture (COP), merging essential data for decisive action. Incident commanders gain unparalleled speed in decision-making with access to drone visuals in near real-time, thermal feeds, and telemetry from ground units. They can oversee airspace via radar feeds and ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast) from manned aircraft, ensuring FAA compliance with LAANC (Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability) and setting NOTAMs (Notice to Air Mission) as required, including controlling their airspace.
A 3D, comprehensive COP equips commanders with vital information precisely when needed. As BVLOS expands, the DFR technology offers safety and efficiency within the financial scope of cities, delivering the protection that leaders and communities demand. COP works at any scale, and the automation that it brings can further reduce costs.
Benefits of Situational Awareness Using Drones in Action:
- Crime Scene Processing: Drones are revolutionizing crime scene investigations. They document scenes thoroughly, aiding in natural or man-made disaster assessments and insurance claims.
- Investigative Safety and Perspective: Drones offer aerial views, improving the scope and scale of understanding scenes. They provide safer methods to access hazardous locations and reduce risks in crash reconstruction investigations.
- Efficiency in Investigations: While overall investigation time remains constant, on-scene time is reduced, allowing more desktop analysis and yielding better results.
- 3D Modeling: Drones enable the creation of 3D crime scene models, invaluable for verifying information throughout investigations, and tactical planning before major events.
More Real-World Case Studies:
Drone technology is reshaping how we respond to emergencies and conduct investigations. These examples underline drones’ pivotal role in enhancing situational awareness, response times, and operational efficiency for first responders.
- Montgomery County (Texas) Sheriff’s Department[4]: Lieutenant Damon Hall discussed how his department has utilized drones for crime scene documentation. In one case, a body was found in a river, and after determining its GPS location, a drone was sent to catalog the scene in detail. This was crucial for gathering as much genuine information as possible before the scene could be altered.
- The Collier County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office[5] deployed six drones to aid in the search for a 77-year-old man who had been missing for more than two hours after wandering from his residence. Within 30 minutes, police found the man and returned him to safety.
- The Fremont (California) Police Department[6] used a drone to find a Deaf 17-year-old boy who had run away from school. The search took place at night, and police successfully used the drone’s infrared camera to spot the boy in a field and safely recover him.
- Fort Wayne Police Department, (Indiana)[7], “The Air Support Unit can deploy drones to the scene of a 911 call… 72 percent faster than ground units.” The drone transmits a live feed to the controller in dispatch. There, the controller can relay necessary information to officers before they arrive on the scene. FWPD Air Support Unit Officer Matt Rowland, “I think that being able to get there, to get that live information, that live view because sometimes that’s hard to portray over the phone. You think about when people call 911, they’re in distress, they aren’t thinking as clearly as they should be or could be about what’s going on.”
- The Paso Robles Fire and Emergency Services in California[8] use drones with infrared and thermal detection sensors for quick detection of heat signatures in high-risk or remote areas, such as the 480-acre Salinas Riverbed. This capability allows drones to cover large areas more quickly and efficiently than on-foot operations, leading to faster detection and response to fires
- The Los Angeles Fire Department (California)[9] utilized drones during the Skirball fire, where the 360-degree assessment captured by drones enabled them to adjust their attack strategy. This strategic use of drones for discovering “hot spots” and directing resources to critical areas played a crucial role in containment efforts.
Growing The Real World:
With nearly 18,000 law enforcement agencies[10] and 29,000 fire departments[11] across the US, the potential for expanding real situational awareness for first responders is vast and
untapped. The successes seen in various regions, slashing response times to 90 seconds from 4 minutes and reducing ground resource deployments by 20%, are just the beginning. The next phase involves equipping community incident commanders with comprehensive situational awareness tools. This expansion will require greater situational awareness through a clear Common Operating Picture, that not only enhances the capabilities of BVLOS operations but will also significantly elevate the effectiveness, safety, and fiscal efficiency of first responder activities nationwide.
The path forward is clear, challenging, and absolutely essential.
[1] Patrick Sission, Welcome to Chula Vista, where police drones respond to 911 calls, MIT Technology, Feb. 27, 2023, https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/02/27/1069141/welcome-to-chula-vista-where-police-drones-respond-to-911-calls/
[2] Chief Roxana Kenedy, Chula Vista Police Department, Drones as a First Responder: The Future of Public Safety, ICAP UAS Presentation., Oct 27-29, 2019, and Drone Related Dashboard from Chula Vista Police Department, 2023. https://www.chulavistaca.gov/departments/police-department/programs/uas-drone-program
[3] Shelby Hall, Fire loss in the United States, NFPA (National Fire Prevention Association) Report, Oct. 31, 2023.
https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/research/nfpa-research/fire-statistical-reports/fire-loss-in-the-united-states
[4] Jeremiah Karpowicz, Seeing and Understanding How Drones Impact Crime Scene Investigation, Commercial UAV News, April 11, 2016. https://www.commercialuavnews.com/public-safety/seeing-and-understanding-how-drones-impact-crime-scene-investigations-for-police-officials-at-spar-3d
[5] Collier County Sheriff’s Office, Drone-Led Rescue a First for CCSO, press release, April 17, 2019, https://www.colliersheriff.org/Home/Components/News/News/40660/1929
[6] Specialized Fremont Police Drone Helps Find Missing Deaf Teen, CBS SF Bay Area, February 21, 2019, https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/%20fremont-police-drone-helps-find-missing-deaf-teen/
[7] Stephan Walker, FWPD utilizes drones to respond to 911 calls, Fox Fort Wayne 55, February 21, 2023, https://www.wfft.com/news/fwpd-utilizes-drones-to-respond-to-911-calls/article_aea3b2b6-b248-11ed-a073-e3646de67dbb.html
[8] Rachel Engel, Above the Smoke: The case for using drone in firefighting, Verizon, https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/articles/s/the-case-for-using-drones-for-firefighting/
[9] DroneDeploy, How Firefighters are using drones to save lives, March 17, 2020, https://www.dronedeploy.com/blog/how-firefighters-are-using-drones-to-save-lives
[10] USA Facts, https://usafacts.org/articles/police-departments-explained/, October 5, 2023
[11] National Fire Prevention Association, https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/research/nfpa-research/fire-statistical-reports/us-fire-department-profile?l=0, August 31, 2023.
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