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Upper Arlington police present plan to buy public-safety drone and software for field operations
Summary
Council reviewed a proposal to buy a safety-operations drone and LiveOps software platform for the police division; staff said the unit includes thermal imaging, public-address and siren capability and a hardware-refresh warranty, and they plan public transparency reporting for flights.
Upper Arlington police described a planned purchase of a safety-operations drone and associated software at the June 9 council meeting, saying the system is purpose-built for law-enforcement field operations and will be used by trained officers for public-safety responses.
Lieutenant Messer and police staff said the selected vendor (Brink/BREX in the presentation) builds U.S.-based, public-safety-focused drones and a LiveOps software platform that logs flights and stores footage. Staff emphasized differences from the city’s existing public-works drone: the safety-operations unit includes thermal imaging for night operations, speakers and a siren for public-address capability, a speaker system and the ability to carry small items in limited circumstances. The vendor’s warranty includes a year-by-year hardware-refresh in year three and rapid replacement service for damage during operations.
Deputy Chief/lieutenants said training will include FAA Part 107 certification and roughly eight hours of additional operational practice before officers begin field deployment. "They have nearly a bulletproof warranty. They will no-questions-asked overnight us a new drone if we break it," a presenter said, describing vendor support and the planned training program. Staff also said they will prepare public-facing information and a transparency dashboard that will show when and where the drone flew and the purpose of the deployment.
Why it matters: the system is intended to support police search, scene mapping, traffic/crowd management and other safety tasks; staff said the unit could increase efficiency and provide new capabilities for night searches and mapped incident documentation. Council members asked about data retention, privacy and public notification plans; staff said footage will be stored in the department’s evidence platform in a manner analogous to body-worn camera and cruiser-camera evidence and that a public dashboard will record flights and basic deployment reasons.
Funding and next steps: staff said the item is budgeted in the capital plan and that the city is evaluating whether some costs may be covered by law-enforcement or seizure funds. The council discussed outreach to residents to explain the drones’ capabilities and to post demonstration footage when the unit is operational.
