Montgomery County Police are expanding their video drone program with new more autonomous drones that can fly simultaneously — all without the need for a rooftop observer.
MCM was at the demonstration of the new drones — which are smaller, quieter and lighter — outside Public Safety Headquarters in Gaithersburg.
The original drone program was more labor-intensive, according to Capt. Tony Galladora. Contractors had to be on the rooftop to monitor the drones, and also had to change batteries, upload video and do on-site maintenance.
With the new autonomous dock system — drones are charged on a dock and can upload videos on their own. It will also now be operationally available 24 hours a day. The new drones are American-made by Skydio.
More drones will cover more territory in the new program. After completing equipment replacement, 12 drones will be docked at six locations across the county: Downtown Silver Spring, White Oak, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Wheaton, Bethesda. Germantown and White Oak are new sites for the program.
A dual-dock system lets drones respond to two calls in the same area at the same time. Also, the drone pairs at each site will be configured differently so one is optimized for nighttime missions with its own spotlight.
The police department uses video drones to respond to 911 calls to better understand the situation. Drones do not patrol or do surveillance. There is no facial recognition technology, no microphone and the camera always faces up toward the sky on the way to and from the scene.
Three full-time drone pilots will be added to the police department’s staff. Drones are piloted remotely from Public Safety Headquarters in Gaithersburg. The police department posts flight logs for its drones on an online dashboard.
Police can also now cover more area due to Federal Aviation Administration changes. Previously, drones could fly 1.1 nautical miles. Now, police expect to cover at least two nautical miles. They will go from 30 square miles of coverage in the county to 85 square miles, according to Capt. Galladora.
Previous drone vs new drone
