Formulating a DFR program for the Pearland Police Department

Introduction

Drone as a First Responder (DFR) program has become a transformational method of policing that has demonstrated the ability to increase officer and community safety and reduce overall police response times. DFR provides the ability to see what is occurring at an incident before emergency personnel arrive on scene. In addition to the overhead perspective that traditional air support has always provided, DFR allows a trained incident commander to "virtually" arrive on scene first, sometimes minutes before officers are in harm's way. The City of Pearland DFR program is modeled after the Chula Vista, CA Police Department's Drone as First Responder Program. In 2018, CVPD was granted the ability to partner with the FAA through their UAS Integration Pilot Program. This program focused on testing and evaluating the integration of civil and public drone operations into our national airspace system. From 2018 to 2022 their DFR program has responded to 9,294 calls for service.

However, the CVPD DFR program model always has a pilot and visual observer on the roof of their launch locations during their hours of operations. The personnel assigned to the roof are due to their limitations of their FAA authorizations. Due to our environment, we are attempting to eliminate the personnel on the roof and deploy completely autonomously or remotely. The only personnel that would be required to temporarily be in the elements is a logistics technician to replace batteries, payloads, and do inspections of the aircraft during the hours of operations.

With the partnerships, equipment, and support we have developed, I am confident we can achieve a more affective approach to the DFR program. If authorizations are granted by the FAA, we will be the first agency in the nation to have the authorizations to implement drones for public safety in this manner. If approved, we will be pioneering and developing how public safety responds to all calls for service across the nation. This method would be scalable, affordable, and relatively easy to replicate for any police department in the nation.

Vision

DFR is not only a technical solution, involving the rapid deployment of drones, but also a systemic improvement over traditional policing model.

Typical police departments, in these times of limited resources and personnel, often find they are sending uniformed officers to every reported incident with little time to problem-solve prior to arrival. Dispatchers barely have time to keep up with the incoming calls for service, often only recording what is the caller reports into the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System and then moving on to the next incoming 911 call. The call then waits in the queue until there are available officers to respond. In the meantime, there is no one with the ability and time to truly problem solve and strategize the appropriate response. Often the call for service is related to a social or mental health issue that is longer-term and not immediately solvable by officers with limited time and ability to address it. Or the incident, which may be escalated by the arrival of uniformed officers with limited knowledge, can be de-escalated if a trained incident manager who is not in harm's way can observe the situation early, identify the appropriate resources needed, formulate the proper practical and tactical response required, and then direct first responders in a way that increases the safety and effectiveness. The locations for launch sites have been strategically chosen due to their proximity to the highway.

Operational Flow

1. DJI M300 and H20T is mission-ready, preflight and operational checks complete.

2. Dispatch requests UAS support at a location.

3. DFR Operations supervisor approves and requests UAS launch.

4. The flight plan is created

5. PIC autonomously launches the aircraft

6. PIC has the ability to communicate with Hobby airport using cell phone or landline if UAS is required to enter Class B surface areas.

7. TLS 1.2 Encrypted telemetry and image transmission is received by authorized personnel.

8. UAS Operations Sergeant or his designee requests aircraft and/or camera position and orientation changes if needed.

9. Flight control input requests via the Pearland Police Radio Primary Channel are near-instantly approved by PIC so long as those requests meet mission and geofence parameters.

10. PIC monitors and maintains complete control of aircraft through entire operation.

1) PIC and DFR Operations Supervisor monitors: i) Iris Automation Cameras and ADSB for manned aviation incursions ii) WhiteFox Technologies for unmanned aviation incursions

11. DroneSense software requires the UAS to initialize an automated RTH mission with enough battery life remaining to ensure the UAS lands with 25% battery at original launch point. DroneSense geofencing, RTH procedures, and omnidirectional anti-collision systems ensures the UAS avoids all marked obstacles within the geofence on the automated return flight home.

12. If the incident no longer requires sUAS support, the system will RTH to be available for the next emergency incident.

13. PIC recovers the UAS and conducts post-flight checks and prepares aircraft for next launch.

14. Mission is conducted under these parameters.

Phase 1 (1-6mths)

Phase one will be the initial roll out of the DFR Program.

The initial operational area will consist of concentric two-mile radius from two designated launch locations in C district:

1) Pearland Fire Department Station 5

2) Pearland Fire Department Station 8

These locations were chosen due to their locations being within close proximity to high crime rate areas and the furthest away from Hobby Airport:

Phase 2 (6-12mths)

Phase two will be the expansion of the DFR program to the east side of the City to focus on those areas. During this phase, night operations will start to be tested to determine safety case and best practices.

Capabilities

The drone has a powerful on-board camera that streams high-definition video back to the DFR Incident Supervisor. A Teleoperator not only controls the drone remotely but communicates with the units in the field giving them information and tactical intelligence about what they are responding to and the behavior of the identified subject to be contacted. The system also streams the video feed to the cell phones or mobile computers of the first responders, supervisors, and command staff so they too can see exactly what the drone is seeing prior to arriving onscene. Widespread deployment of DFR Systems will transform the way public safety agencies serve their communities, increasing safety, efficiency, and accountability.

Piloting

Phase 3 (12mths-Forward)

Phase 3 will expand the DFR program to cover the rest of the city by adding launch locations to the PD and Fire Station 2.

DroneSense has created the ability to autonomously or manually deploy the DJI M300 system from a remote location to the scene for a call for service or 911 call. This could eventually allow for the ability to deploy a drone from any fixed launch site from a centralized remote piloting location. The controls for manual flight are user friendly and easily trainable. DroneSense also has a user friendly flight planning system for autonomous flights to an area. There are partnership integrations between Iris Automation, Whitefox Technologies, and DroneSense to create a single point of display for airspace deconfliction of manned and unmanned aircraft for the pilot.

Streaming

The streaming capabilities provided by DroneSense would allow for all participating stakeholders to observe the scene live. This will provide responding personnel the opportunity to observe the incident while en route to better prepare their response tactics. This will also provide the opportunity to provide situational awareness for the responding officers in the event of a dynamic scenes, such as fleeing suspects or runaways.

Resource Allocation

Traditional response to emergency events relies on on-scene personnel to determine if more resources need to be requested or disregarded. Due to the drone providing live feeds of the incident, resources allocation can be accurately determined while responding personnel are still en route. This will allow for Officers to return to service prior to arrival if not needed or allow for the proper resources to be allocated to the incident to bring the incident to closure sooner.

Brandon Karr

Brandon Karr is from Pearland, Texas and is currently the Chief Pilot, UAS Program Coordinator, and night shift patrolmen for the Pearland Police Department. Brandon is a committee member on two subcommittees for the State of Texas regarding the implementation of sUAS for major disasters or incidents.

Brandon is also President of the Gulf Coast Regional Public Safety UAS Response Task Force. The regional team has responded to multiple incidents across the state, provides a variety of UAS training to the region, and assists Public Safety agencies develop UAS programs.

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