The Chula Vista Police Department plans on using drones to enforce a coronavirus lockdown. “The outbreak has changed my view of expanding the program as rapidly as I can,” he added.
One of the reasons for the drones will be to monitor the homeless population in the city, who Sallee believes have a lack of reliable information on the severity of the coronavirus outbreak.
“We need to tell them we actually have resources for them — they are vulnerable right now,” Sallee said, according to the paper. “It might be impractical or unsafe for our officers to be put into those areas.”
The drones were made by the Chinese company DJI — the largest civilian drone company — that accounts for roughly 70 percent of the market. Officials had previously warned about Chinese drones being a possible threat to security, the Financial Times reported.
The department currently flies about 10-15 operations a day, but solely for emergency situations. They started using them for emergency situations back in Oct. 2018.
“With strong support from the community, the Chula Vista Police Department began deploying drones from the rooftop of the Police Department Headquarters to 911 calls and other reports of emergency incidents such as crimes in progress, fires, traffic accidents, and reports of dangerous subjects,” the department said.
Sallee is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to expand drone usage in order to protect those in the community during the outbreak.
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“This crisis could be a catalyst to spur the FAA to free up resources faster,” he said, according to the paper.
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from MetNews https://metnews.pw/southern-california-police-to-patrol-with-drones-during-coronavirus-lockdown-report/
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