Palm Springs Police Department launches largest radar-enabled drone responder program in the U.S.
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – The Palm Springs Police Department just launched the largest radar-enabled drone responder program in the U.S., covering 37 square miles without the need for human spotters.
"We're really excited as department to get this off the ground," said Lieutenant William Hutchinson with the PSPD. "This asset matters not only to the officers in the field, but the public at large who really depend on emergency services to be there quickly."
MatrixSpace is the sensor company behind the technology, and says the system speeds up emergency response times.
"We're going to be able to take our response times from three to five minutes on average, and get get people on scene and assets on scene in under a minute," explained Hutchinson. The drones will be used to improve public safety, and can be utilized on several types of emergency calls, including stolen vehicles, police pursuits, a missing hiker, a kidnapping, an active shooter, and more. The drones will keep officers safe, and prevent unnecessary injuries and deaths in dangerous situations.
MatrixSpace tells News Channel 3 the new tech will also improve safety for drone flights around airports and hospitals, especially when flying near medical helicopters.
"We want to geo-fence some areas so we don't crash into buildings, or we don't crash into power lines and things like that," said Hutchinson. "And we have areas like the airport here. It's outlined in red. So that means if our drone tries to go there, the system is going to stop it. It won't even allow our pilots to go there."
In addition to that, the company claims the sensors will allow the drone to conduct operations at night and during bad weather.
"We have thermal capabilities on our drones," said Hutchinson. "Thermal capabilities means I can see heat at night. I cannot see into your home. I cannot use it as x-ray vision to see through objects. But if you're running from the police and you try to hide under a bush, your body is going to emit heat, and we're going to be able to see that. If you commit a crime and try to run, we will find you, and we will catch you.
MatrixSpace's Chief Revenue Officer Lori DeMatteis says this radar technology is changing public safety in Palm Springs, and can inspire other cities to follow Palm Springs' lead. And Hutchinson says transparency and honor are most important with programs like this. He explained that keeping the public's trust is of the utmost priority when it comes to using drones.
"Not only are laws in place, but we have good policy in place to make sure that these drones are being used for the right purposes," said Hutchinson. "First and foremost, we're not going to conduct random surveillance. We're not going to be flying over your house, looking into your pool and seeing you sunbathing in the backyard. We are going to be responding directly to calls for service."
Hutchinson also says the public will be able to use a live dashboard to see where and when police drones have been used.
"We're looking at these again, very responsibly, and we are putting good policy, good audit trails in place," said Hutchinson. "We're going to provide all of the flights that we conduct on a dashboard that are going to be available to the public. We do that now, but we're now going to increase the type of transparency that we have. So if there is a question, you'll see the flight path, where the drone went to, what it was there flying for. If you have a question about a drone over your house, or if you want to know if it was us, you can reach out to us. We'll look at our logs, if it wasn't already provided to you on our dashboard, and be able to confirm if that was our drone or not. And so I think that's really, really important that we have that type of technology and that type of transparency for this program."
