Some police departments are testing out new drone technology, meant to capture emergency situations in real time.
The Minnetonka Police Department and Rochester Police Department are launching the Drone as First Responder (DFR) program.
Minnetonka police say six drone docks will be spread out on city-owned buildings. Many police departments across the state use drones, but this takes it one step further, using this technology to respond to emergency calls in real time.“It’s an exciting technology,” said Chief Brian Podany, with the Blaine Police Department. Podany says his department has researched this extensively, but hasn’t secured funding.“We’re always looking at what we can do more efficiently in order to try and protect lives and save lives and use government resources effectively,” Podany said.The way it works is that drones are dispatched from fixed launch points around the city to an in-progress crime or other emergency ahead of responding units, providing live video to officers.“It can be increased not only safety for the responding officers but the people that are there,” Podany said.But with these drones flying all over, what about your privacy?“That was probably one of the biggest concerns, like, ‘Wait, is this big brother type thing, what is this?’” Podany said.Per Minnesota state statute, Minnetonka police say it will limit these flights to public safety calls, cannot be used for random patrols and all video is logged in a public dashboard.“I think it’s important because it addresses people’s privacy concerns, too, and what are they actually being used for,” Podany added…