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Select Board approves police drone purchase after grant shortfall; chief says DoD‑certified model addresses privacy concerns
Summary
Police recommended a Parrot UK/UKR drone priced at $16,500; the board authorized awarding the bid to Darley and Company and using the $15,000 grant plus roughly $1,500 from the police budget to cover the balance; chief and a board member emphasized the DoD certification as a privacy safeguard.
Police chief (speaker 10) returned to the board with a revised drone recommendation and said he had sought a model accepted by the Department of Defense to mitigate previously expressed privacy concerns. He told the board that the Parrot UK/UKR drone could be purchased for $16,500 and that the grant funding for the purchase was $15,000; he said he could find about $1,500 in his current budget to cover the difference and that a part-time employee with commercial piloting credentials could provide training without using the grant’s training funds.
A Select Board member moved to award the bid for a Parrot UKR drone and associated accessories to Darley and Company of Itasca, Illinois for $16,500, authorize expenditure from the drone grant fund and the police department budget, and authorize the town manager or designee to execute documents. Board members debated privacy and procurement; Select Board member Eric (speaker 5) supported the choice, saying the DoD certification addresses the town’s earlier concerns that lower-cost models could export data. The motion passed in a roll-call vote.
Direct quotes from the meeting capture the rationale: the chief said the grant had been "for $15,000 for the purchase of the drone" and Eric said, "When you have a drone that ... goes through the certification program, you have all of the items that we are concerned about addressed within the drone itself."
