Drones will soon be flying over the Crescent City acting as first responders to 911 calls. This is mainly to assess the scene before human first responders can reach the area. Melanie Talia is President and CEO of the New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation and emphasizes that these drones are all thanks to private funding.
The city of New Orleans will be receiving $750,000 over course of the next five years or so thanks to the funds provided by the donations of citizens. Talia said the hope is to provide at least four of the police drones with those dollars. She is quick to point out that the drones have been extremely useful in terms of public safety with the fleet of nine that are currently in use by the NOPD.
The police drones being used as part of this program are not the same grade as the small drones hobbyists fly around in their back yards and that’s a big reason for the price tag that many may find eye-popping. That said, she says public support for the program is strong.
She urges anyone interested in donating to the cause to do so at: https://nopjf.org/ where donors can even specify which NOPD district they’d like their money to go to.
