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The Montgomery County Police Department’s drone program has launched over 1,000 flights

Theo

On a typical night north of Washington, a dozen drone flights quietly take off as part of a major policing trend spreading across the country. And the agency behind them – the Montgomery County Police Department – plans to double down on its program in the next month.

“They’ve really made a difference for us,” County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said Wednesday evening at a community meeting in Bethesda, the area where the service was last provided. “We’re excited about the expansion.”

Across the country, thousands of public safety Authorities use drones in some form, drone industry officials say. Many do so when an incident is already underway. Montgomery’s program is designed to get the drones on the scene before ground units by launching them in the first seconds of a 911 call.

The program is now nine months old and has become one of the nation’s leading “first responder” drone programs either in development or in use in the U.S., according to authorities. Montgomery’s two response drones are equipped with video cameras that can zoom in on what someone is holding and track their movements. Drone operators can also send the video feed to ground officers’ laptops, tablets or cellphones.

The department has conducted over 1,000 flights this month and says the technology has allowed it to not only catch criminals but also quickly determine which calls don’t require a police response, so patrol units can be dispatched elsewhere and officers’ time isn’t wasted. “The key is speed,” said Capt. Jason Cokinos, head of Montgomery’s drone task force.

Here’s a look at the program, expansion plans and civil liberties concerns.

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