A proposed drone program in the Richfield Police Department is causing a buzz throughout the community, which is being asked to provide its input through an anonymous survey.
The program would add three drones at an initial cost of around $31,000 with most of the money coming from the department's forfeiture fund.
"We're looking to get three drones to start," said Richfield Police Sergeant, Robert Smith, who's been tasked with developing the UAV/Drone program. "One would be a smaller drone used for interior, inside homes, SWAT warrants, or if we're in a situation that needs a piece of equipment in place of an officer. There'd be a medium-sized drone that's quicker to carry around in a squad car and quick to deploy. The third drone would be bigger that could fly a little bit long, has a better camera, and could be used for longer, drawn-out scenarios."
The program's been in consideration for past couple of years according to Smith.
"[Drones] are just a really valuable tool," Smith said. "They give officers another option whether we're looking for a child that's lost in a large park area, or looking for a suspect who's fled from police on foot."
Currently the department relies on drones from Edina or Bloomington.
"We have that ability to ask assistance from state patrol, but maybe due to weather or other reasons, they're not always available. Having the ability to quickly deploy a drone to get a bird's eye view to look for suspects, missing people, or check areas during Penn Fest, just having that ability and being able to do it quickly extends our tools."
Minnesota state statutes outline how and when law enforcement may use UAV's and regulates the data collected, created, or maintained by an agency.
Smith said during an interview with WCCO Radio on Friday that he understands concerns about privacy throughout the community.
"Drones will be used to keep people safe," he said. "When we're up flying looking for a suspect or a victim, the pilot's going to be looking for that specific person or thing. If they see someone get stabbed or something that needs police intervention, somethings going to have to be done about that. It's not on just a random surveillance looking for things that we don't know are already there."
Law enforcement drone operations are subject to federal aviation regulations.
Richfield police hope to have their drone program up and flying in the next couple of months.