Calgary police have a new tool to help in search and rescue.
Police say its remotely piloted drones will help support its emergency response and public safety efforts.
Launched in early September, the 90-day trial uses two drones in northeast and southeast Calgary to give officers an aerial look at some calls before patrol members arrive.
Deputy Chief Cliff O’Brien reported on the pilot project’s success at this week’s Calgary Police Commission.
O’Brien told the commission about a recent search for a five-year-old autistic child who was reported missing in northeast Calgary.
The search was an early test for the Calgary Police Service’s new Drone as First Responder pilot.
“The drone pilot located the child within 30 seconds of arriving on scene,” Deputy Chief Cliff O’Brien told the Calgary Police Commission on Wednesday.
A trained CPS officer can now remotely deploy a drone from fixed docking locations when certain calls come in, sending live aerial information back to responding officers.
CPS says that can help police assess what is happening, identify risks and decide what resources are needed.
O’Brien said drones were first on scene in nearly half of their deployments during the pilot’s first weeks.
In roughly 13 per cent of calls involving the program, responding officers were able to cancel their responses because the incident was no longer happening.
“In the past, we would go there, we’d send officers there, and in some cases, we’d send multiple units there,” O’Brien said.
Police also used a drone to locate a theft suspect and relay real-time updates to officers on the ground before an arrest.
CPS says the drones are not used for routine neighbourhood surveillance and do not use facial recognition or automated license-plate recognition. Police also say the drones to not record while travelling to calls.
The results cover only the first weeks of a 90-day pilot.
The trial is expected to run into December, when CPS will have to decide whether its early results warrant giving drones a larger role in Calgary policing.
