By Thomas Tracy
NEW YORK — Drones will soon be accompanying cops on 911 calls throughout the city, NYPD officials said.
A new Drone as First Responder pilot program will be in effect in coming months, beginning with four NYPD police precincts and the Central Park precinct, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry announced at a hearing before the House Committee on Homeland Security.
“The plan, to be rolled out in the coming months, is to deploy these drones in response to certain 911 calls for service,” Daughtry told the committee on Thursday, not elaborating on what type of calls the drones will respond to.
Three of the precincts participating in the program are in Brooklyn, Daughtry said. A fourth is in the Bronx. The precincts were chosen “based on recent crime trends,” he explained.
The roofs of the precinct station houses will be retrofitted to support two drone platforms. While the drones will be departing and landing from the station house rooftop, the pilot would be in NYPD headquarters in lower Manhattan and will be sending video and telemetry to cops in the field, Daughtry said.
The information provided by DFR will be shared with responding officers,” he said. “[It] will enhance officers’ situational awareness as they arrive on scene, promote officer safety, and help us deploy resources more effectively.”
The NYPD currently has 85 drones. The remote fliers are traditionally used to cover major events, such as the New Year’s Eve ball drop-in Times Square, large protests, and major police deployments. The drones have also been called into service to check on the structural stability of buildings and bridges after accidents, Daughtry said. Drones have also been utilized to patrol above-ground train lines to watch out for subway surfers…
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