By Jowi Morales<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These drones could cut emergency response times to under two minutes, but at what cost?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several towns and cities in the U.S. are experimenting with Flock\u2019s Drones-as-First-Responder (DFR) system, which employs remotely operated drones that automatically launch from rooftop docks. According to Military.com<\/em><\/a>, these units are integrated into emergency services systems, which can send drones in response to a 911 call, license-plate reader notification, or gunshot-detection alert. Once in the air, these units stream live footage to dispatchers and officers in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flock initially gained this capability when it purchased drone firm Aerodome, which sells drones with high-definition video, thermal imaging, and other onboard capabilities. It\u2019s also not the only company advertising similar services, with one startup advertising a Starlink-connected first responder drone<\/a> that lets it operate outside the range of its base station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of the cities that are considering, have run a pilot project, or have signed a contract with Flock for its DFR system include Fort Worth, Texas; Castle Rock, Colorado; Dunwoody, Georgia; Fulton County, Georgia; and Middletown, Connecticut. Fort Worth said that during the two-month pilot program, the drone was deployed to 162 emergency 911 calls, with an average response time of 112 seconds. It was also the first unit to arrive in 76 of these calls and even allowed the authorities to clear 11 of them without needing to send officers to the scene. Furthermore, the city said that these units only respond to calls and do not patrol the skies over Fort Worth, and that the cameras on board their drones are pointed at the horizon until they reach the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company has recently been surrounded by controversy, especially when it comes to the misuse of its system<\/a> and the apparent lack of security<\/a>, despite the company maintaining that it has never suffered a data breach<\/a>. Despite that, Middletown Police Chief Erik Costa was quoted telling CT Insider, \u201cThe drone\u2019s purpose is not surveillance; it\u2019s first response.\u201d He also added that drone footage from the city \u201cwould not be shared\u2026outside the building unless there is a search warrant\u201d and that unused video recordings \u201cwould be erased within 30 days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other cities have considered and turned down offers to run Flock\u2019s DFR service within their jurisdictions. Berkeley, California, said no to a $2-million proposal that would have expanded its existing license-plate cameras to include drones, more cameras, and software, while Bridgeport, Connecticut, rejected a $500,000 lease for two DFR drones. Even the mayor of Middletown declined to sign the contract despite the city having approved a trial earlier this year. The most common reasons cited for these refusals include privacy concerns and fears that the data gathered in their areas of responsibility could be shared with or accessed by federal authorities without a warrant, even as Flock claims that it does not work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). <\/p>\n\n\n\n While emergency responders find DFR and other similar services useful, the primary reason people oppose Flock\u2019s service isn\u2019t the drone units themselves, but the lack of trust in the company and the institutions that use them. So, unless the authorities address the underlying concerns, it\u2019s likely that any type of surveillance \u2014 whether strapped to a pole or flying overhead \u2014 will always face some kind of resistance from the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I can’t wait to see the mishaps from these drones. They could put a lot more officers on the streets, or double them up in vehicles for what these systems cost. The dystopian surveillance state future is fast approaching though. And cutting response times with no officers there doesn’t really do anything, because you’ll need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18945"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18946,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18945\/revisions\/18946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"a](\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/Vi3BKZaxSPgUMDJBwAxg4c.png\")