Grand Chute Police have added DFR (Drone as a First Responder) program to the department. The home base docking station is outside the police department's building. PC: Fox 11 Online
GRAND CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Grand Chute Police Department has a new eye in the sky over its jurisdiction.
This cutting-edge technology is giving officers a look at the scene before they even arrive on scene.
Drones have been a tool used by law enforcement for years, but the Grand Chute Police Department is taking it to the next level. The department launched a DFR, or drone as a first responder program. It’s the first of its kind in the state.
“The primary focus of the DFR program is to respond quicker to police calls for service, provide actionable intelligence for responding officers, improve the efficiencies of our operations and reduce overall costs,” said GCPD Capt. David Maas.
As the department demonstrated Friday, once a call comes in, an address can be entered into the software and the drone is launched from outside the police department within minutes. A licensed pilot is responsible for tracking the drone on its way to a scene.
The autonomous drone, programmed to take a direct route to a destination, can arrive on scene even before the first squad car pulls up. The technology is linked to in-squad computers and phones, transmitting real-time information.
According to Maas, “They can literally watch the livestream of what’s occurring before they arrive, and so the officers understand what is occurring and they can also understand what’s not occurring.”
Hovering at 200 feet, the drone view can be a time saver in critical situations. The technology allows the department to cover a vast area in a short amount of time.
“We also used it recently for a vehicle that took off from officers. The driver bailed out of the vehicle and headed into a wooded area. We used the thermal camera in order to quickly locate that individual. Within minutes, he was in custody — something that would have taken hours of traditional foot search for officers to locate,” said Maas.
The department calls the technology a gamechanger.
“It’s making police work easier and safer. That’s the biggest thing. Why we even explored this program was safety of the community, safety of us. The nature of our job is not totally knowing what we’re getting into. This sometimes eliminates that, where you can get eyes on scene before you even get there — and that takes a lot of unknowns out,” added Lt. Mike Lichensteiger, one of the department’s pilots.
As part of a pilot program with the drone company, Grand Chute police received a discount and paid $39,000 for the drone system that usually costs $68,000 to run. The annual renewal fee moving forward would be about $36,000 a year.
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