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Vernon Hills police outline 'drones as first responders' proposal, cite privacy limits and cost range
Summary
The police chief presented a plan to explore a drones-as-first-responders program that could dispatch drones to 911 calls; staff cited current deployments (~30 in 12 months), legal retention limits in Illinois, and estimated annual costs between $40,000 and $150,000.
The Vernon Hills Police Department told the village board on Dec. 9 that it is preparing to present a vendor-backed concept for a "drones as first responders" program and sought the board’s direction to continue exploring options.
Police staff said the village began limited drone use in 2017 for crash recon and missing-person searches and that state law has expanded permissible uses. The department reported about 30 actual emergency deployments in the last 12 months while noting its systems could have authorized many more; one presenter said the department was authorized to deploy the drone in roughly 7,000 calls during the same period but actually…
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