The city of Hamilton will use drones to respond to some emergency situations as part of a pilot program by the state of Ohio.
Hamilton is one of nine municipalities selected by the Ohio Department of Transportation for the first round of the pilot program. The agency says it's the nation's first statewide drone emergency response program.
Hamilton Assistant Police Chief Brian Robinson says some officers with Federal Aviation Administration drone licenses already make limited use of drones they carry in the trunks of their cruisers.
Some of those officers found and applied for the state program. The new drones will be quicker and wider-reaching, Robinson says.
"Where this will make a difference for us is that these DFR units are designed to launch immediately in response to service calls," he said. "So we can have someone at a desk hear a call they think these would be useful for, and they can launch the DFR from their desk."
Two drones will be kept on docking stations in fixed locations to be dispatched for fire, EMS and law enforcement situations. One will serve as a backup for the other in case its battery runs low.
"If it was a train wreck, or a car wreck, or some kind of major fire going on, they could look at it from above and provide critical information to those on scene," Robinson said.
Some Ohio cities, including Cincinnati, already have their own programs using dispatched drones. Some groups like the ACLU of Ohio have expressed concerns about such programs, saying they could present dangers to privacy and constitutional issues.
“The big overall problem here in Ohio is we really have zero laws at the statewide level and almost none at the local level, too, to govern the use of drones in a way that would give Ohioans more confidence that they're not being used to surveil their whereabouts," ACLU of Ohio Legislative Director Gary Daniels told The Ohio Newsroom when the state announced its pilot in November.
A bill that would require a search warrant for law enforcement use of drones beyond emergency response passed the Ohio House last year. It's currently in committee in the state Senate.
The program will be managed by a company called SkyfireAI in partnership with ODOT. The first part of the state's program is set aside for training and equipment demonstrations. ODOT says it has internal policies requiring the redaction of personal information captured by drones.
Robinson says Hamilton is aiming to have the drones operational by June. The first phase of the program is slated to last a year and is meant to test the effectiveness of drones as first responders.
Other Ohio agencies participating in the pilot are:
- The Amherst Police Department
- The Athens Police Department
- The Austintown Fire Department
- Kelleys Island Fire and EMS
- Lima Police Department,
- Springfield Police, Fire and EMS departments Toledo Police Department
- Violet Township Fire and EMS
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