Unmanned aerial systems, commonly known as drones, are a growing trend in law enforcement across the country. But how do police departments launch drone programs , and how can officers be trained to operate drones safely and professionally?

Some departments, like Brookhaven, Georgia, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, are leaders in the field and are looked to by other departments when it comes to establishing a drone as first responder (DFR) program.

However, smaller, less complex, non-DFR drones are still powerful tools for public safety agencies. What does it take to start a drone program, and what is the best approach?

Operating in Public Airspace

When operated in the open, drones of any scale fly in public airspace, which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversees. With anything governed by a federal agency, there are rules and requirements.

Public safety entities have two options for operating drones. For years, one option has been to obtain an FAA Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA), but now those have been rolled into a new term, Certificate of Waiver (COW).

The other option entails having the officers who will operate the drones take and pass the FAA Part 107 exam and earn a Remote Pilot Certificate.

Charles Werner, executive director of DroneResponders , explains the two options.

“What we first saw with law enforcement is law enforcement went the Part 107 route, because that was the easiest way to get to be able to fly,” Werner explains. “Take your Part 107, you're able to fly as a department, and you've got it covered.”

The COA was originally only available to political subdivision agencies, such as those operated by a city, town, county, state, tribal, territorial, or federal agency. Volunteer organizations, such as volunteer fire departments or rescue groups, could not be approved.

The COA is now changing to a Certificate of Waiver (COW), and Werner said that this expedites the process. Plus, the COWs are all done by one division of the FAA, not two, as previously.

“So COAs are going away. Certificate of Waivers are the new thing,” says Werner.

Some departments obtain the FAA waivers, but still have officers pass the Part 107 exam to earn a Remote Pilot Certificate individually.

“There are a lot of agencies that are doing the smart thing, which they should do. They are sending their pilots to get Part 107 certificates,” says Capt. Abrem Ayana, who runs the drone program for the Brookhaven Police Department in Georgia. “Those Part 107 certificates essentially indicate they have knowledge, a basic airmen's knowledge.”

Ayana explains that when officers pass the Part 107 exam, it means they have some understanding of weather, aerodynamics, and other topics they need to know to fly in the public airspace.

“Also, the Part 107 route is a layer that if an agency chooses not to get a waiver, then they can still fly because they have Part 107 pilots,” adds Ayana.

The Brookhaven Police Department currently has 12 Part 107-certified officers, but it will soon be onboarding additional ones.

For training, the department uses online learning through Pilot Institute. It is self-paced learning with a large number of video lessons and other supporting materials, including practice tests.

“Once they're done with that, they can go to the testing center and take the test,” Ayana explains. “Typically, between the time they start the course and the time they actually get their license is within two to three weeks.”

The exam must be taken in person at an FAA-approved testing location, which is often found at airports, technical schools, and other places.

According to Werner, although some officers may simply take the Part 107 exam without using a training course to prepare, this is not common.

“There are a few things that, if you haven't been in aviation, it's hard to understand, like, if you want to understand reading METARs (aviation weather reports), and you want to know a little bit more about the airspace, controlled airspace, it's kind of hard to do without that background,” Werners says.

Like Ayana, Werner recommends enrolling in a Part 107 training course to prepare for the exam.

“It gives you the ability to do it when it's convenient to you. You can do it fast, or you can take as long as you need to get where you need to be. They have all these practice tests, and I can guarantee that on all the ones that I've used online, if you've gone through and passed those tests and their final test, you'll do fine,” Werner adds.

At the Fort Wayne Police Department in Indiana, Officer Matt Rowland recalls the early days of his department's drone program when he was one of the four initial officers.

Two officers already had their pilot’s license (FAA Part 61) and had to take an additional online step to become FAA certified in drone operations, but he and another officer had to start from scratch.

“They sent us to a training class, which was mediocre at best. But in 2017, there wasn't training like there is today. So that's one thing that people have now, there are all kinds of training options out there to teach Part 107, to teach operations, and other aspects of using drones in law enforcement, to teach a whole bunch,” Rowland says.

It has been nearly a decade since Part 107 was enacted, and some departments have people with enough experience to hold the training in-house, points out Werner, but there are still even more growing training options.

“We're starting to see community colleges start teaching part 107, as well, which they can take advantage of. It's usually a two-day course,” he adds.

From Idea to Taking Flight

Werner says there are now more than 6,000 public safety agencies with drone programs. Of those programs, 75% are in law enforcement, 24% are in the fire service, and 5% are attributed to emergency management, search and rescue, EMS, and other small-use cases.

For any agency with a drone program, it started with an idea.

That idea may have come from the department's higher levels or from an officer who was interested in drones or had off-duty experience with them.

“Typically, the smaller agencies have an officer who's interested and goes out and gets Part 107 on his own for the most part. And you still also see that in the larger agencies as well, but it's more common for an officer who has a Part 107 to go out and do it on his, own and then come back to their chief or sheriff and say, ‘Hey, I want to start a drone program. I got a Part 107,’ and then they pursue it that way,” Ayana says.  “That is the most common thing you're going to find across the country, because most of the police departments in the country are small agencies.”

When an officer, maybe one who already flies drones as a hobby, pitches the idea of a drone program, it is important to be able to detail how the drones would be used and explain the benefits.

“I would think that they would want to have some ‘This is what we will use it for’ examples,” says Rowland.

Looking at Fort Wayne as an example. Overwatch can help protect officers, remove dangerous individuals from the street, and make the community safer. Deploying a drone for incident scene mapping at a crash site can get the job done quickly, thereby reopening the flow of traffic faster and reducing the potential for additional collisions.

Like other departments, what is now a large drone operation began with an idea.

Rowland, who is now assigned to the Full-Time Air Support Unit (ASU), Special Operations Division, was one of the first four members of the team. He and a fellow member on the negotiations team were joined by two other officers who were pilots. They each were certified under Part 107 and started small.

At the start, there was a lot to figure out. Would the drone program fall under the negotiations team? Who would use the drones? What would they be used for? When would they be used? Where would they be used?

“We started small with two drones, and all we were doing when we started was overwatch for barricade and hostage situations with the SWAT team,” Rowland adds.

Four or five months later, the Air Support Unit was officially created, and the group gained another patrolman, a sergeant, and a lieutenant to bring the roster to seven. The unit now fields 12 officers, two sergeants, and 10 patrol officers, and works closely with drone operators from the fire department.

The role of drones in Fort Wayne started small but soon grew.

“One thing I tell people when they're starting is to know what missions you might use the drones to accomplish, get some wins, and bring that back to your command,” he says.

In 2018, the team was trained to use drones for mapping, first for serious injury and fatal car crashes and then for outdoor crime scenes with life-threatening injuries.. Next, they started to get called out when people ran from officers or when individuals were missing.

Now, they do overwatch while K-9 officers track individuals. By using DroneSense, K9 officers can log in, and the drone can locate and track the officers while searching for suspects.

“They love it, because they know that we're looking ahead. Maybe the dog starts to pull towards something, and we can maybe help identify what that is, whether it's a person or a deer, or all sorts of scents that the dogs can sniff out,” Rowland explains.

As the team continued to grow and expand scope, fire department arson investigators started to work closely with the police drone operators. In Indiana, those arson investigators are sworn officers.

“They work a 24/48, so they will come assist us if we need extra manpower on a police-run overwatch or whatever operation we’re doing,” says Rowland.

“When they are busy on a working fire and can't necessarily fly the drone, that's when they'll call us,” he says. “We can send the hot links so that the battalion chiefs can log in and they can see the fire right on their in-car computer.  We've had a couple of fires where we've been able to show them where the heat's coming from, and they couldn't see it from the ground. “

The police department’s drone team trains three days a month, and the fire department drone pilots join them.

With Fort Wayne operating drones in many roles, plus DFR now, Rowland often receives calls from other agencies wanting to start a basic drone program. He stresses how important it is to have someone with a strong desire to pursue the concept.

You have someone in the department who has the idea, the push, because you've almost got to be kind of sickly devoted to it. I would say, there are people on my team that would say that I'm over devoted to this to a degree,” Rowland says.

That devotion is critical because you want to build a drone team from individuals who will stick with it. Rowland says he has seen officers start a program, push hard for it, and then get frustrated that it’s going nowhere fast. Or, maybe an officer retires or moves to a new opportunity, and the drones get locked up in a case, left unused.

So, in addition to having that officer wholly devoted to the drone program, it is good to build a team with like-minded officers so that in case one leaves, the others can continue forward.

Brookhaven's idea of a drone program was born from the need for timely air support, rather than being dependent on larger neighboring agencies with helicopters.

Brookhaven found the need for drones back when Ayana was a watch commander on the night shift. One night, someone tried to steal cars from a rental car business. One suspect was arrested, but another ran into a very large city park, which at that time did not have lights.

Ayana called for the county police department’s helicopter, but the response would have taken about two hours. The Atlanta Police Department’s helicopter was also unavailable at the time. Brookhaven maintained a perimeter and waited for the Georgia State Patrol helicopter.

He realized his department needed aerial assets and approached the chief about a drone program, and then Ayana started the research. Brookhaven launched directly into DFR but also added what the department calls tactical operation drones, meaning the smaller portable drones operated by officers.

The city council approved drones in October 2020, and the first DFR drone took flight in February 2021.

More Than Just Drones

While a handful of departments may have jumped straight into DFR, most start small. But even those that start small face more expenses than just the drone, plus there are other commitments.

“The other thing that people need to understand is that when they buy the aircraft, they don't realize that over time, they will spend more money on the batteries on the aircraft itself, and that doesn't matter which drone it is,” Werner explains.

He also details how the department needs officers trained to fly the drones, as well as those who can maintain them and document their maintenance. Other tasks, like keeping flight logs, are also needed. 

Why Operate Drones?

So, with training requirements, expenses, and the added responsibilities of operating a drone program, why even do it?

“The one thing important to know about drones, when you're looking at the decisions, is why are public safety flying drones? First and foremost, it enhances safety for everyone,” Werner says.

Werner explains that drones enhance safety for the community because they can be used to solve problems or identify issues. However, they are also important to the responder because they let them see what they're getting into, especially from a law enforcement standpoint.

“Being able to see that the call that had reported a weapon is not a weapon changes the entire dynamic if you're responding to,” he shares as an example.

“If you Google drone success stories, there is a lot of media coverage and reasons why drones are saving lives,” Rowland says. “When you start talking about saving lives, you can't put a number specifically on what it costs.”