More drones for Chula Vista skies

In early December the Chula Vista Police Department became the first law enforcement agency in the country to use Skydio 2 drones, which can be deployed at any location during daily patrol operations and so far, CVPD says it’s been a success.

“We literally got the first four drones that they made,” Lieutenant Don Redmond said.
With six 200 degree color cameras, the ability to travel 36 mph and a 3.5 km range, the Skydio 2 drones sell for $999, according to the Skydio website.

These drones are different from CVPD’s Drone as First Responder program, which was launched last October, with launching sites at Bayview Behavioral Health Hospital and CVPD. Between the DFR program and four new Skydio 2 drones, CVPD makes use of a total of six drones.

Redmond said the Skydio 2 drones are unique because of their collision avoidance technology and their ability to get within very close proximity of things, which ultimately allows for officers to see things without putting themselves in danger.

“Maybe it’s a foot pursuit of an armed suspect whose jumping into backyards and we have it surrounded, we don’t want to jump into that backyard to see if he’s hiding in those bushes or in that backyard if he’s armed,” Redmond said. “We can launch the Skydio drone while we’re there at the scene and the Skydio drone can actually go down to ground level and look in bushes and under tarps.”

He added that one of the other benefits is officers having access to the Skydio drone live footage on their phones so they can see the situation that is developing in front of them.
Currently, eight CVPD officers have been trained to operate the Skydio drones and completed a Federal Aviation Administration course. Redmond said CVPD’s biggest challenge right now is getting more officers trained, and they’re looking to double the amount of drone operating officers from eight to 16.

According to Redmond, Skydio is working with Motorola, who makes the DFR drones, so that all of the drones can be incorporated into one program under one software.
Though the introduction of more drones has been acclaimed by CVPD for providing more insight into previously unforeseeable situations, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been wary of law enforcement agencies using drones in the past.

“Drones pose a multitude of privacy risks because they can amass large amounts of data on private citizens, including those engaging in constitutionally protected activity, even if they have not been accused of a crime,” the EFF website reads.

Though 18 states require law enforcement agencies to obtain a search warrant to use drones for surveillance or conduct a search, California is not one of them, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.