Scottsdale police now using drone to respond to emergency ca…

The new “drone-as-first-responder” can arrive at the scene of an emergency call within minutes.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Across the Valley, law enforcement uses drones to help fight crime. The Scottsdale Police Department is the first agency in Arizona to use a new drone that will respond to emergency calls.

In Scottsdale, the police department has 7 drones assigned for patrol. An FAA-certified pilot officer controls these drones. 

Now, a new type of drone is being added to its fleet.

“This is different, this drone will be a first responder to the call,” Scottsdale Police Department Assistant Chief Rich Slavin said. 

The new drone is called “drone-as-first-responder,” or DFR. It was created by a company called Aerodome.

“Imagine a drone station that sits on a rooftop and a 911 call comes in 3 miles away. As soon as the call comes out, the drone takes off and flies directly to that call for service,” Rahul Sidhu, CEO of Aerodome, said. 

DFR isn’t controlled by an officer on the street. It’s controlled by an operator inside Scottsdale PD’s real-time crime center, where surveillance and intelligence are analyzed. 

“The operator, who might be sitting at the real-time crime center in Scottsdale, is providing air support with a mouse and keyboard for the first responder,” Sidhu said. 

It flies at a speed of 53 mph within a 3-mile radius. 

“The real value in this is the safety that it provides the community. Having something overhead within a minute or so, giving that intelligence down to officers on the street,” Slavin said. 

Sidhu said the technology has “already saved lives.”

DFR is already being used in police agencies in California. Scottsdale PD is the first agency in Arizona to deploy it. 

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