Police ask board to permit drone-monitoring antenna on Waterbury Career Academy roof

The Waterbury Police Department asked the Board of Education for permission to install a rooftop airspace awareness antenna at Waterbury Career Academy to support a drone first-responder program. "It is a monitoring and warning system only. It does not launch, take control of, or interfere with or disable other aircraft in any way," said Captain Nick Lekuski.

Lekuski told the board the equipment uses radar and cameras to detect drones and other aircraft and that the antenna and any equipment would be placed on a roof that students and staff cannot access. He said the police department will bear the full cost of installation, maintenance and rooftop protection and will coordinate with district staff to avoid conflicts with existing equipment. In response to questions, he said the antenna would feed data remotely to the police department’s Real Time Crime Center rather than being operated on-site.

Commissioners asked about the immediate risk from civilian drones and how the system would interact with the department’s planned three-drone first-responder fleet. Lekuski said the additional monitoring will help identify unauthorized drones, avoid conflicts with manned aircraft and give officers an aerial view of calls. The board did not take final action during the workshop; the item remained under consideration as part of consent-level communications.