Louisiana now has one of the nation’s largest police drone fleets according to Jefferson Parish officials. Sheriff Joe Lopinto says the parish has been using the drones as a type of “first responder” since November and that they’ve been particularly helpful with tracking suspects who are fleeing and hiding from officers. “Drones are not a new technology. We’ve been using drones on a JPSO basis for the last 20 years,” Lopinto says. However, he points out that the use of drones previously was reactionary and generally used in backup of a previous call, often taking 30 minutes or more to arrive to a scene.
The new drones being deployed can share information with officers while also arriving before police in many cases. “At the central location, you have deputies that have the ability to listen to the 911 calls that are coming in and be able to hear them before they’re even dispatched to the police on the street,” the JPSO sheriff went on to explain. This will allow officers to decide whether they’re going to launch on any call, which can cut down on unnecessary responses to low priority calls.
Lopinto adds that the drones have been particularly helpful in tracking and apprehending robbery suspects in the area and calls the new tech “a game changer” for the police department. “It gives that ‘eye in the sky’ view that we need,” the sheriff says. “Whether it’s an armed robbery suspect or a thief coming out of the store, we can see where they’re fleeing down the street,” The Jefferson Parish Police Department is hopeful that they’ll be able to deploy their drones in assistance with car chases in the area as well as armed robberies, burglaries, and other critical calls. Sheriff Lopinto stresses that response times are absolutely critical in these high-priority cases and sees this new technology as a crucial aid in shaving minutes off those instances.
Roughly 20 of the police department’s drones are docked throughout the parish. Trained JPSO pilots can launch them from their operations center in Harvey within just seconds of a 911 call. Because of this enhanced response time, the drones often arrive before actual deputies can be on the scene. In these cases, 911 operators communicate with the deputies en route while tracking the vehicles and people involved via drone footage. “Whether you’re in a vehicle or walking, if you’re in one place … five minutes later, you’re another half a mile away. So, the ability to be able to be there quickly gives us a much better opportunity to make arrests when they’re warranted.
Certainly we’re seeing that in the past month and a half that these drones have been operational,” Lopinto stressed.
As of now, Kenner, Lafitte, and Grand Isle are the only portions of Jefferson Parish not covered by JPSO’s drones. The drones are able to operate both day and night, with thermal cameras, spotlights, and even parachutes.
They are visibly marked with red and blue lights on top, although those will be more visible during nighttime operations than during daytime hours. Sheriff Lopinto has said he expects most residents of the area to be unaware of drone operations most of the time.
The drones in operation do not use facial recognition software or license plate readers, but the video from drones is recorded as would be body-worn camera footage. The footage those cameras record can be stored for later court use as needed case-by-case. There are roughly 40 police drone launches per day, which is a far cry from the approximately 800 emergency calls The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office receives daily. Lopinto says he hopes to see expanded use of the technology moving forward.