Drones have provided emergency and utility agencies with faster and more efficient responses in Fort Collins through the new Drone as a City Resource program. This new program is made up of three drones that can reach almost anywhere in the city in about 90 seconds, Fort Collins Police Services Chief Jeff Swoboda said.
Using drones as a tool for emergency responses already exists across the country through what is known as the Drone as First Responder program. However, the DFR program is limited to hand-held drones that require a licensed officer to operate on-scene with a battery pack.
“The biggest issue that we ran into was response time,” Sgt. Ryan Barash said. “We were 10-to-15 minutes behind where we needed to be sometimes; (whereas) now, it’s (the) drone that gets there well before us.”…