Council approves three-year drone contract for police responder operations

The Sylvania City Council approved an ordinance to enter a master services and purchase agreement with Brink Drones Inc. to provide a responder safeguard drone service, training and support for the police department.

The safety committee had reviewed the proposal and forwarded it to council. Committee members summarized that the drone system under consideration offers a roughly three-mile operating range, about 42 minutes of flight time, thermal detection capability, and built-in lights and logos; staff said the model is American-made and compliant with the National Defense Authorization Act.

Councilmember Hanson introduced the ordinance; the council approved the appropriation of $23,999.20 for the contract as an emergency measure. Committee notes and presentation materials identified the contract as a three‑year arrangement at just under $24,000 per year; the department also secured a donor to cover the first year. Committee members asked about training, whether weapons could be mounted (Chief Miller confirmed no), coordination with neighboring jurisdictions and how usage reports would be provided to council. Committee members voted to forward the ordinance to council with the request that periodic usage reports be provided.

If implemented, staff said the drone would be used for missing-person searches, foot pursuits, barricade and crisis incidents, traffic-crash response and event monitoring; the police department will update its policy to establish program parameters and oversight.

Ordinance 40-2025 (introduced in committee as 40-2025) was approved by council and carried as an emergency measure. Council did not record a line-by-line roll-call in the provided minutes.