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Lee County Sheriff's Office to use drones

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office will soon be taking its next steps toward adopting Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or drones, into its force in efforts to improve efficiency and safety.

Implementation of the drone technology, which has been on the department’s radar for years, doesn’t have a set timeline yet, though it would be in the “coming months rather than years,” said Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones.

“We like to keep abreast of current technologies,” Jones said. “We certainly try to take advantage of anything and everything…that’ll aid us in … completing our bottom-line mission and accomplishing our goal of providing for the public safety. That’s our No.1 objective.”

The sheriff's office had been interested in the technology for about three years, but was waiting for the equipment to become more advanced, efficient and available in different options that would work well with the department’s goals.

The department also adjusted its budget over the years to set aside funds to add the upcoming systems, Jones said.

Using the technology would be ideal for at least three different scenarios, Jones said.

“For search and rescue operations,” Jones said. “When we have, say, someone in a rural area, a child or perhaps a person with a mental disorder — dementia, Alzheimer’s — for individuals who are unable to communicate effectively.”

The technology could help find someone who is lost or disoriented, as long as authorities know the area where the person was last seen, he added.

“It would allow us to have another option as far as eyes to hopefully conduct a more efficient search,” Jones said.

The drones would also help with situational awareness in scenarios that threaten safety, such as a hostage or barricaded suspect situation, Jones said.

“To give us a way out of the particular location that would help us to formulate the most efficient and safest response for all concerned to hopefully mitigate the situation,” he said.

The UAS, Jones said, would also give authorities a different perspective of a crime scene.

“We have in our jurisdiction a lot of rural areas, and a lot of times our crimes scenes are in open areas,” he said. “And this would give us an additional way of viewing that scene that would perhaps allow us to pick up some items or elements that are not visible from a two-dimensional view — to give us that third-dimensional view.”

The department plans to complete UAS training through Auburn University’s Aviation Center, though the number of personnel set to complete the training isn’t determined yet, Jones said.

Law enforcement usually go through a four-day course at the Aviation Center, which costs about $2,500 per person, said Earle Thompson, UAS program manager with the Aviation Center. Most law enforcement agencies use the Inspire drone, Thompson added, which, with a camera included, could cost nearly $7,000 each.

The course includes flight and safety training, academic instruction, scenario-based training and specifications on how law enforcement in particular can use the drones.

“It’s not a carte blanche kind of thing,” Thompson added. “There’s actually a Department of Justice Memorandum of Understanding … that allows them to do things that other people can’t do at certain times, such as fly at night or they’re directly involved in some first responder type of activity.”

But any other kind of investigation or evidence gathering using the devices still requires a warrant, Thompson said.

After the training, personnel can take a Federal Aviation Administration exam in order to be certified to operate the drones, Thompson said.


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