INTERVIEW

EDR: What peaked your interest in drones?

Charles: Throughout my 49 year public safety career, I have always been interested in technology. I had worked with computers, smart devices, GIS, broadband, WiFi, remote sensing, communications and interoperability. I quickly saw a drone convergence across all of these technologies. So drones rose to the top of my interest quickly.

I had also already seen the value of aviation operations in public safety but helicopters and fixed wing aircraft are too expensive and crewed aircraft in public safety were only operated by bigger cities and counties with bigger budgets.

Drones now offered a similar opportunity for almost every public safety organization.

EDR: How did you go about learning more about drones for public safety?

Charles:I started scanning the internet and national news for stories about public safety use of drones by early adopters. I would search for the responder who was quoted and I would call and basically interview them. I would ask about their use cases, how the drones performed, how was it received by the community, how was it received by the department members, what were their successes, their challenges and asked if others wanted to start a drone program what would you tell them?

EDR: As you explored drones in the beginning, what did you learn?

Charles: I quickly learned that programs were all over the place. Some were sold on larger, more expensive drones ($50K) that they never ended up using. I learned that very few people knew much about drones and had nowhere to look. I learned that there was great concern over privacy issues. Interestingly, I learned that many department members saw drones as toys and had no use for them until they saw their utility - then their response was, "Where's the drone?". Some states would require law enforcement to have a search warrant to fly.

EDR: After exploring the potential on drones for public safety, what did you do?

Charles: Realizing that there was very little and fragmented information, I worked with a number of the public safety UAS early adopters to develop the National Council on Public Safety UAS. And started the first online Resource Center to capture the early policies and procedures to share. There were about 100 documents at first. Unfortunately this group was a community of like minds but there was no way to enter into agreements or get corporate sponsors. Then in 2019, I was introduced by my good friend Jay Willmott to Chris Todd with the Airborne International Response Team (AIRT - a 501C3 non-profit organization) who proposed that we create a new program under the AIRT nonprofit and The DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance (DRONERESPONDERS) was born. News spread fast and the Resource Center quickly grew and presently has over 800 documents. We first focused on information needed to start programs.

DRONERESPONDERS quickly grew to 500 members and now going into our 4th year, membership (FREE) has risen to over 7000 members, participation from over 85 countries, 400+ international members, 1400 persons/week to the website. In 2020 we partnered with NASA AMES Research Institute and ESRI to launch the Global Public Safety Drone Directory/Dashboard which now has nearly 1300 public safety agencies sharing their drone program information. Former Pearland TX Police Officer maintains this dashboard.

DRONERESPONDERS purpose is to

EDR: How were your next actions received by public safety?

Charles: It was slow at first because people didn't know DRONERESPONDERS existed. Then DRONERESPONDERS started holding general webinars and also began a monthly Webinar with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Michael O'Shea to explain and demystify some confusing rules and regulations. Interest really picked up and in the 2020 DRONERESPONDERS research study revealed over 17 major public safety use cases and many of them could be divided into sub categories. In 2019, DRONERESPONDERS partnered with AUVSI XPONENTIAL and Commercial UAV Expo to conduct annual global and national summits respectively. In March 2023, DRONERESPONDERS will start another annual Public Safety UAS Conference at Busch Gardens in Historic Williamsburg, VA.

EDR: What are the biggest mistakes made by starting public safety drone programs?

Charles:

• Before starting a program, be sure to conduct community outreach to include citizens, elected and appointed officials and the local civil liberties organization to address their concerns. Many programs had to restart when there was community backlash. DRONERESPONDERS has a customizable Community Outreach program in its Resource Center.

• Not knowing what they are getting into as to missions to be flown, best aircraft to start, regulatory requirements, the costs for aircraft, payloads and batteries (often cost more over time than the aircraft).

• Starting with aircraft too large or too sophisticated.

• Not realizing the requirements for remote pilot certifications and amount of initial and recurring training necessary to maintain perishable skills.

• Not realizing that remote pilots are aviation pilots with the same requirements for safety as a crewed aircraft pilot.

EDR: What have been some of the benefits of public safety drones?

Charles:

• Enhances safety of responders, citizens and community

• Improves better operational effectiveness as there is more information available

• Serves as a de-escalation tool

• Provides real time situational awareness

• Creates a collaborative environment across disciplines

• Serves as a force multiplier, especially during times of law enforcement staffing shortages

EDR: How are drones being used by public safety?

Charles:

• Law enforcement tactical operations (SWAT, Hostage situations, drug enforcement, room clearing)

• Forensic investigations

• Traffic Crash Reconstruction

• Traffic Safety Enforcement

• Traffic Pattern Review

• COVID Vaccination Site Planning

• Structural Firefighting

• Wildfires (6 sub categories)

• Hazmat Response

• Interior flight operations

• Search for Lost Persons

• Beach shark overwatch

• Ocean lifeguard rescue flights with personal flotation drops

• Tethered drones for stationary reconnaissance

• Major Disasters (hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, mudslides, earthquakes,

• Drone as a First Responder

• Pre-fire site planning

EDR: What is the NIST Standard Test Methods for sUAS?

Charles: This program established multiple sUAS test lanes for basic drone manoeuvring skills and proficiency. This is being used in the U.S. and other countries as well.

EDR: Will drones replace crewed helicopters?

Charles: No not at this time, drones have a limited operational area. Helicopters have a much larger area of operation, can do other operations like rescue of persons, large area search and damage assessment.

EDR: What are the next significant developments ahead?

Charles: info@droneresponders.org https://www.droneresponders.org/

• Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations will enhance the distance and effectiveness of public safety drone programs.

• Drone as a First Responder is the next major use case for public safety NOW, which originated with the Chula Vista CA USA Police Department. This concept launches a drone from the moment of incident dispatch, usually arrives first and provides eyes in the sky to dispatch and directly to officers in the field. This real time streaming situational awareness provides critical information, enhances safety, serves as a de-escalator and returns officers to service more quickly.

• New FAA waivers will soon allow for preincident flights for early wildfire detection and suppression.

• Drone Swarms will expand coverage areas for numerous reconnaissance operations.

• Larger drones will be able to conduct significant 24 hour wildfire suppression operations which will allow flights at night and through smoke incursions without any danger to a pilot.

• Best guess estimates are that people transportation will occur in 5 years which will hopefully lead to air ambulances and other emergency services.

EDR: What do you consider the biggest accomplishment?

Charles: The opportunity to work with the best of the best to learn, collaborate and share information to the larger public safety drone community.

To find out more information about DRONERESPONDERS please visit their website or contact them directly.

The DRONERESPONDERS Global Public Safety Drone Map Dashboard was a result of a partnership with NASA AMES Research Institute and ESRI The Map Dashboard was designed to serve as a way to share Public Safety Drone Program information between agencies around the world It has also been used to help facilitate regional mutual aid cooperation and regional training The Map Dashboard is open to all public safety agencies and is managed by former Pearland TX Police Officer Brandon Karr. This also allows for filtering by state, discipline and more.

Here's a 3 minute survey to add your organization's info: https://bit.Lu/2RHlwyj

Here is the Map Dashboard link to nearly 1300 already participating: https://droneresponders.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/5dd2710f19e24

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