New made in the U.S.A drones are on their way to a Florida police department
By Angela Rozier
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PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida (WPBF) — The Port St. Lucie Police Department’s drone program is grounded, for now.
Sgt. Matt Reynolds said the drones they currently have are DJI drones and are not on the newly approved manufacturer list.
A new Florida law bans government agencies from using DJI drones and requires agencies to purchase drones from an approved manufacturer list.
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The Port St. Lucie Police Department’s drone program was launched in 2020.
Reynolds said the entire fleet is made of DJI drones, which are made in China.
“The intention of the law was for security concerns and the risks,” Reynolds said. “We feel we mitigated that here at this station nothing touched our network. But I get it, it’s good to support U.S. manufacturers.”
Reynolds said the department is phasing out the old drones.
They hope to have new drones up in the air by mid-February.
“We’re going to comply with the law,” Reynolds said.
He said public safety will not be compromised.
“We still have our road patrol officers, the K-9 and our cooperation with our outside agencies that have aviation,” Reynolds said.
According to police, in 2021 there was a total of 240 flights, 69 were for missing persons and fleeing suspects.
In 2022 there was a total of 344 flights, 89 were for missing persons and fleeing suspects.
Officials believe drones are an integral part of the way police respond to emergencies.
“This year alone in our tracking, we found if we responded in the first 30 minutes, 69% of the time we are locating missing kids, missing adults, fleeing suspects.”
Officials said they are currently in the process of purchasing a new drone fleet from an approved vendor list.
They said the newer drones have better capabilities than the old fleet such as better FLIR sensor resolution, all-weather capabilities, and color/zoom camera capabilities.
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