REDMOND, Wash. — The Redmond Police Department has a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving: the Federal Aviation Administration granted them a highly sought-after waiver that will allow them to deploy drones on more 911 calls.
"It reduces our staffing by 50%," said Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe. "I don't have to have an observer watching the airspace around our drone, and it allows our pilot to operate wherever we have cell phone coverage.”
As long as Lowe has one pilot-certified police officer available to fly their drones, then they are able to fly them to whichever calls they deem appropriate.
The effects of the waiver could also reach the entire region, according to the department's chief.
"With this waiver, it opens up the possibility of regionalization," said Lowe. "We have a 30-mile radius around Seatac that we can legally operate now, with our FAA waiver."
Lowe said they have already been piloting their 911 response drones for calls like robberies, traffic crashes and even stand-offs.
"About a month ago, we had a circumstance where we had a subject that barricaded himself in an outbuilding, a shed. We were able to have the drone overhead to provide that real-time intelligence to the officers. So the drone was able to arrive before the ground unit. They saw the suspect run into the shed. The drone maintained a visual of that shed," he explained. "We didn't waste time and/or resources, searching an area unnecessarily and/or inconveniencing an entire apartment building by, you know, locking everything down, believing that we potentially had a suspect."
Redmond has now become just the second police department on the West Coast to be granted an exception to the FAA's rule for a visual observer.
The department's drone pilots can now even fly near the airport in Seatac. It should be noted, however, that there are rules in place to keep the police department's drones safe from other aircraft. They aren't allowed to fly higher than 250 feet. They also cannot fly over military bases.
Looking forward, it is not just Redmond that may feel the effects of this. Lowe said the waiver sets the stage for police departments across western Washington to dip their toes in the usage of police-operated response drones.
Effective immediately, Redmond can help other cities if they request mutual aid on a major incident. But there may also be a process established for cities to pay the Redmond Police Department for their help with drone response.
"It then becomes a regional asset, and it could become like a cost-sharing type of thing to mitigate some of the costs that we've already invested in our program," said Lowe. "Say, Seattle, for example. Seattle would just power up the drone. Our pilots, here from our Flight Control Center, could actually take control of that aircraft and operate it in their airspace.”
Lowe called the FAA's decision "monumental."
"The conversations are already being had. The logistics and details still need to be worked out, because you're dealing with municipal governments," he said.
In a state filled with police staffing shortages, with the lowest number of cops per capita, will this help to ease the strains?
Lowe said so far in Redmond, the drones have proved helpful.
"One out of four calls, we don't need to physically send an officer on the ground because we've assessed the situation from the air, and we're able to clear the call from the air," said Lowe. "This technology will never replace people or the need for people, but it is an enhancement."
He continued, "It does still require commission police officers to operate, but what it does is, it can free up that unit for another call for service. So you don't have calls pending, right? So, it allows you to make situational assessments very quickly."
Right now, the drones often need to return to their bases to recharge their batteries. However, Lowe said he expects technology to evolve so that batteries can change themselves automatically.
Lowe said, "It's incredibly exciting for the Redmond Police Department and the Redmond community, but for the region, this is a huge win.”
Currently, Redmond is using a drone that was manufactured in China. Next week, Lowe plans to officially announce their partnership with an American-made drone company.
Last June, Lowe shared his interest to KING 5 about working with a local company called BRINC Drones. They develop and test their drones in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood.
Stay with KING 5 as we monitor this developing story.