Lyndhurst Police Department
An article by Cleveland 19 News shares:
Two Northeast Ohio police departments have teamed up to launch a new drone program.
The Highland Heights Police Department and the Lyndhurst Police Department trained together last week.
Five pilots accredited in Lyndhurst
Lyndhurst Police Officer Dave Duffy is one of the department’s five newly accredited drone pilots.
“It helps us anytime that time is on the line and we can get a drone up. I think it’s very important that way. That’s how we save lives,” Duffy said.
The department plans to use the technology for crowd control, tracking down a suspect on the run or a missing person, and processing accident and crime scenes.
Lyndhurst Police Chief Michael Scipione said the new technology is a game-changer for their team.
“It always comes down to how fast you can process evidence from a crime scene or get ahead of a criminal act,” Scipione said.
Scipione said the drones are an “eye in the sky when every second counts.”
The Lyndhurst Police Department’s drones were purchased using asset forfeiture funds seized from an illegally operated vape store in the city of Lyndhurst.
Addressing privacy concerns
Scipione said the drones are a tool to fight crime, not to conduct surveillance.
“People do not have to worry about the Police Department using this tool to violate their 4th Amendment rights. If we needed to encroach on somebody’s privacy, we would do so with a search warrant at the state or federal level,” Scipione said.
“We’re going to use it very responsibly. We would never want to lose the trust of the public when we do operate it. really is a benefit to the residents of our community,” Duffy said.
Both departments have a newly formed drone policy. Footage gathered by the drones for both departments follows the same procedure and retention as other department video, like body-worn cameras and dash cams.
Highland Heights launched program this summer
Highland Heights police started their own drone program this summer, training four officers to operate it. The department obtained its drone through a grant.
“It provides us a better view, a field of view on crime scenes, on accident scenes. It can help measure, take measurements on accident scenes, things like that. And it can help us with searching areas, for subjects that run from us, things like that, where an officer may not be able to go,” said Highland Heights Police Chief Dennis Matejcic.
The two departments plan to work together. Highland Heights police say there must be a specific reason to fly the drones in the community.
“There must be a case and a reason for that. Like, you know, search for a runaway suspect or on an accident scene or like I said, on a crime scene, that kind of thing. So it’s not up in the air just watching anything. You know, it goes up when we actually need it,” Matejcic said.
The departments’ drones are ready to fly when needed. Officers say they can think of calls where the drone would have been helpful to better protect officers as well.
Soaring to new heights, together.
Be sure to visit the BWU Technology Partnerships Initiative website to learn more about how our NEOFIX program drives economic growth, promotes policy and infrastructure to improve drone safety and efficiency in various industries, and ensures that drone technology is being used responsibly.