Inside look at PSPD drone technology and future drone first responder plans

Fighting crime in Palm Springs is reaching new heights, with the help of drone technology.

For some time now, Palm Springs PD have used drones in a limited capacity to locate missing persons or in search and rescue cases.

But now, a new initiative hopes to advance the technology.

If approved, the Drone First Responders Plan would allow unmanned aircraft operated by FAA-licensed officers to respond to, de-escalate and even clear incidents remotely.

As part of the department's Real Time 911 center, drones and the city's camera system hope to deploy officers to 911 calls quicker and free up resources.

KESQ asked the department how they're responding to surveillance concerns from the public.

Lt. William Hutchinson said, "We're not going to throw a drone that's just going to cruise the sky all day long looking for something to happen. You call 911. We see that call and the drone operator autonomously sends the drone straight to that incident looking for that specific issue that you've reported. When it comes back, the camera goes straight up back to the docket and then it lands. We want to make sure that it is incident driven and again, not used for random surveillance."