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El Centro Police provide six-month update on unmanned aerial system program; department says program uses grant funds and has flown 24 missions
Summary
Police officials presented a six-month update on El Centro's unmanned aerial system (UAS) program, saying the department has three drones, six FAA Part 107-certified pilots, has flown 24 missions and recorded no public complaints to date. The department said purchases were funded by grant monies, not the general fund.
The El Centro Police Department provided a progress report on its unmanned aerial system program, describing operational experience, funding sources and plans for expansion.
A police representative (unnamed in the public remarks) told the council the department currently has three UAS units, six FAA Part 107-certified pilots and that the program went live in September of last year. “We have 3 drones in our possession,” the presenter said, and reported the department has "flown 24 missions" outside of training, including searches for suspects, burglary alarms and documentation of traffic collisions.
The presenter emphasized the department used grant funds rather than general fund dollars to purchase equipment: "None of our program to date has been purchased with general fund monies. My commitment to council in getting this started was we were gonna use other, other funding sources," and identified COPS/SLEAP-style grant funding as sources used to date.
The presentation addressed privacy and transparency steps the department has taken. The department said flights are recorded with GPS tracks and flight metadata (time, wind, temperature, elevation and camera gimbal direction) and that it is exploring a public-facing portal similar to programs in other California cities that shows flight patterns and deployment data. The presenter said the department had received zero complaints during the program's first six months.
Operational examples shown to the council included a nighttime thermal deployment during a shooting response in which the drone helped officers clear a backyard before entry, and documentation of a fatal traffic collision. The department said it is pursuing smaller indoor-capable drones, additional software for scene reconstruction, and integrated records management system (RMS) links to publish public-facing flight data.
Council members thanked the department and asked no substantive follow-up questions during the presentation. The department noted possible future uses including drones-as-first-responder (DFR) deployments to reduce response times and support for fire operations (thermal imaging for structure fires).
