Denver police say drones will respond to emergency calls instead of cops after city cuts millions of dollars to police

• Denver Police have launched a new drone program
• The agency plans to use drones instead of police officers on emergency calls

Denver Police have launched a new program that uses drones to respond to emergency calls instead of police.

The law enforcement agency, which recently had millions of dollars cut in funding to fund the migrants, is now launching its own drone program along with other police departments in Colorado.

Robert White, the former chief of the Denver Police Department, disagreed with the use of drones as early as 2013, and in 2018 the agency’s only drone was put on hold.

Now, the department plans to launch the program with a $100,000 grant from the Denver Police Foundation. The Denver Police Department plans to use the money to purchase several drones and launch its drone program within six to twelve months.

Phil Gonshak, director of the department’s Strategic Initiatives Bureau, told the Denver Post, “It’s starting to take off.”

“In the long term, we are trying to use drones as first responders,” he added.

“Basically, it’s about setting up stations over each of our districts so that we can use drones to respond to critical needs or emergencies that arise anywhere in the city.”

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, based in Centennial, Colorado, has been using the robotic aircraft since 2017.

“Whether we like it or not, this is going to be the future of law enforcement at some point,” said Sergeant Jeremiah Gates, who heads the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office drone unit.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office has 14 pilots who have used 20 drones for a variety of tasks, including tracking fleeing suspects, searching for missing persons, providing aerial surveillance during SWAT operations, and mapping accident or crime scenes.

Gates said the agency is now considering using its drones to respond before officers, and in some cases even to replace their arrival at all.

If a drone is deployed before a police officer responds to a call, it could map the area and provide the officer with live video streaming before they arrive.

For example, if a drone is flown to the location of an emergency call, the device can determine the urgency of the call and tell officers whether they need to respond.

“I could fly the drone over a reported suspicious vehicle and say, ‘Hey, that vehicle is not out of place,’ and I would never have to send an officer out to harass them, and I can get the matter resolved,” Gates said. “That saves resources.”

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office is still in the “very early stages” as it must consider costs and public opinion and determine what type of equipment will be needed to operate the drones for emergency calls.

Gates said the aircraft could also be used to respond to traffic light outages by providing live video to officials.

He added that the remote-controlled devices would reach the scene faster than a police officer as they would not have to contend with the traffic congestion in the area.

Gates told the Denver Post: “What happens if we get a call about someone with a gun and the drone is able to fly over the person and determine that it is not a gun before the police even make contact with the person?”

While Gates supports the use of drones, Laura Moraff, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, is concerned that the use of drones by law enforcement agencies could infringe on people’s rights.

“We are concerned about what it would mean if the skies over Colorado were actually covered with drones everywhere,” Moraff said.

“We are concerned about what this would mean for First Amendment activities, free speech, organizing and protest – because police surveillance, including through drones, can change the way people speak and protest.”

Moraff also expressed concern that the use of drones could lead to “excessive police presence.”

“We know it’s a problem when people report black people doing normal, everyday things as if there’s something suspicious going on,” she said.

“So sending a drone out for every emergency call could be dangerous and lead to excessive police presence in communities of color.”

“There’s also just a risk that the more we normalise drones in the sky, the more it can influence people’s behaviour when we just look up and see drones everywhere and know that the police are watching us.”

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Meanwhile, Littleton police only use drones “proactively at large public events to monitor certain areas,” spokeswoman Sheera Poelman said.

Loveland police used a drone to deliver a defibrillator to a patient before paramedics and authorities could respond, Sergeant Bryan Bartnes said.

“One disadvantage is, of course, that the citizen on site has to apply and apply the product,” says Bartnes. “Drones don’t do that at the moment.”

The Loveland Police Department’s largest drone can carry up to 16 pounds, Bartnes said.

Ben Birdsell, supervisor of community service officers for the Commerce Police Department, said the agency plans to use drones for 911 calls next year.

“In our experience, it’s basically much cheaper than a police officer,” he said.

Drones can only be flown with limited range because they must operate within the pilot’s line of sight and comply with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight regulations.

White said that start-up funding for a drone program for the Denver Police Department would cost about $1.5 million to $2 million.

“We would never simply replace the response to emergency calls by police officers,” he said.

“DPD would respond to any emergency call where someone physically requested an officer on the scene. But if there was a fight on the corner of Colfax and Cherokee and we sent a drone in the air and there was no fight or anything else causing traffic problems, we would redirect our officers to other emergency calls.”

The department has already developed a policy for the use of drones as a first responder program and has several trained pilots on staff.

Denver Police Department spokesman Doug Schepman said the agency’s SWAT team uses a single drone for limited indoor searches and may also use it for emergency response after approval.

“So there is no doubt about what we are doing because I know there are concerns about us flying drones and peering through windows without a warrant,” Gonshak said.

“We want to keep the public in mind as we continue our efforts.”

In April, the Denver City Council’s Finance and Administration Committee approved plans to cut police funding as the ongoing refugee crisis cost the Democratic-led city about $89.9 million.

The Finance Committee concluded that $41 million in cuts to several city departments were necessary to accommodate migrants, KDVR reported.

As a result of this decision, the department’s budget was cut by $8.4 million. The sheriff’s office lost $3.8 million and the fire department lost $2.4 million.

The sanctuary city’s progressive mayor, Mike Johnston, introduced the budget proposal, which allocates $89.9 million to support arriving undocumented migrants, whom he called “newcomers.”