Omaha Police present drone program at national conference

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The Omaha Police Department’s new “Drones as First Responders” program is being used as a teaching tool.

OPD presented about their usage of drones and gunshot detection technology at the National Sheriffs’ Association Conference in the metro today.

OPD announced its “Drones as First Responders” program in November. The program uses Skydio drones positioned around the city with nine drone as first responder docking stations.

OPD does not disclose those locations, but they are placed based on call volume and safety needs.

How the program works

The drones are launched to answer specific calls of service ahead of the actual police response and send information to the real time operations center.

A spokesperson with OPD answered questions from deputies at the conference about how the drone program works.

The drones are autonomous. They are supervised by human operators but have an AI engine inside of them. Like a Waymo, they use cameras positioned around the drone to fly themselves. All an officer has to do is command the drone to let them know where they want them to dispatch to, and the drone finds a way to get there.

Those AI engines make the drones easier to operate.

The drones can travel up to 45 miles per hour and can go as far as an officer wants, as long as the battery is intact and the device is still connected to a cellular network. The drones can also operate in tougher weather conditions.

OPD Chief Pilot Frank Peck said the department is open to partnering with other law enforcement departments to give them access to some drone technology as well, potentially hubbing out of Omaha.

Different uses across departments

Skydio, the company that makes the drones, said different police departments use the drones to respond to different kinds of calls.

Some communities use the drones to respond to the highest priority calls, like shootings, before police get there. Others send the drones out to lower priority calls, for instance, if there is a report of someone jiggling door handles attempting to break in.

“If you send the drone, the drone is able to clear the call and take the call off the board, the dispatch board, so that officers then can focus on other things,” said Ryan Kao, Skydio director of public safety strategy.

OPD uses the drones to respond to both high priority and low priority calls.

OPD also has ShotSpotter hardware in parts of the city to detect gunshots, and it works in tandem with drones. Drones can dispatch to locations where gunshots are detected, give live video, locate victims and evidence, and give officers situational awareness.

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