On Wednesday, Mayor Cassie Franklin announced the City of Everett, Washington’s nearly six dozen Automated License Plate Reading Cameras would be shut off until they could get more clarity on a Snohomish County Superior Court Judge’s decision they are subject to the State of Washington’s Public Disclosure laws. That decision however has no effect on Everett’s Drone-As-First-Responder program.
Recently the City of Everett, Washington has been inviting area media outlets into their Operations Center to show what they can and cannot do and how the program is being used to free up time for police officers on the ground. Seen in Everett stopped in Wednesday afternoon. “The three biggest things to this program are safety, civil rights and transparency,” explained Sergeant Robert Edmonds.
The drones have to operate under specific confines of FAA rules. With Paine Field nearby, collision avoidance with other aircraft is a major factor for drone pilots operating over Everett. There are several built in systems to show how close aircraft and the EPD Drone are to each other and the drone will automatically descend if the operator fails to adhere to warnings posted on their flight screen.
The drone program helps with safety on the ground for officers, citizens and even those suspected of crimes. The drone can get to a scene quickly providing needed context and information for responding officers. For example, the drone recently arrived to a call of a man pointing a gun and the operator was able to determine the object was not a gun, but a lighter with officers tailoring their response accordingly. Here’s a link to that video from the EPD Facebook Page.
When it comes to civil rights, Sgt. Edmonds says the drone program follows standards and directives which all patrol officers are required to use. “If an officer on scene couldn’t do it we don’t do it with a drone,” Edmonds explained. The drones respond only to dispatched 911 calls and don’t just do random patrols. The following is from the standards put in place when the program was first launched. We are not using this program to proactively seek wrongdoing, conduct immigration enforcement, tracking healthcare or reproductive rights activities, constitutionally protected events, or invade privacy. DFR is used specifically to reactively respond to criminal activity and life safety issue while enhancing our ability to serve our community.
With regard to transparency the Everett Police Department uses software that automatically tracks and logs all drone flights launched. Those logs are posted for public review. Like body-worn camera video, drone video can also be obtained through a public disclosure request. For more information and EPD’s full policy please visit: https://www.everettwa.gov/3308/Unmanned-Aircraft-Systems-UAS
Currently there are four drones in the program with two more anticipated to be up and running sometime this year. And for those wondering, no they can’t talk to people through the drones, the drones are not armed but they do have anti-collision lights. Here is a link to a useful Frequently Asked Questions list put together by EPD.
You can reach out via email if you have questions related to the DFR Program at EPD_UAS@everettwa.gov