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Denver councilman suggests replacing expensive police helicopter with “drones”

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Denver City at this week’s Mayor Council meeting suggested the city look into starting an unmanned aerial vehicle program to replace the expensive police helicopter.

“I urge us to investigate using technology instead of the helicopter because it would be a whole lot cheaper and would be more effective,” Nevitt said after a bill request was introduced to add $377,400 from the general fund for continued maintenance of the helicopter.

But a drone program is not happening anytime soon, said Lt. , police spokesman.

“We get the technical attributes and the possibilities, but that’s not where we are heading now. We have no intent on going down that path,” Murray said.

The police helicopter is an effective crime-fighting tool, able to pursue suspects from the air, do the work of two dozen officers on the ground and even find buried bodies using heat-seeking technology. But could do all of that and more without a pilot, paying for expensive fuel and having such high maintenance bills.

Murray said the department isn’t ready for the outcry.

“We don’t go to meetings and the public asks us ‘Why don’t we have drones?’” Murray said. “We haven’t had an outcry from the public saying, ‘Why don’t you have drones?’”

Denver City Councilman Chris Nevitt. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Denver City Councilman Chris Nevitt. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Mesa County Sheriff’s Office uses UAVs for search and rescue operations. But earlier this year, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn canceled the city’s police drone program after public criticism. The Northwest city had used federal funds to buy the two drones but later returned them after public outrage.

In 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration approved training of drone operators, leading dozens of law enforcement agencies, academic institutions and other agencies to start their own programs. The was responding to a law signed by President Obama to compel the agency to plan for safe integration of civilian drones into U.S. airspace by 2015, according to the Seattle Times. The believes as many as 30,000 drones will be airborne by 2020.

In May, the University of Colorado at Boulder submitted an application to the FAA to develop one of six drone test sites to be established across the country. The final selection will be made in December.

Privacy advocates, however, fear that drones can be used to intrude on people’s lives, not simply to just catch bad guys. In February, Virginia lawmakers approved a two-year moratorium on the use of drones, except in very special situations — such as to look for a lost child or missing senior citizen.

Murray said the wants to wait until all of the concerns have been addressed. For now, the helicopter is the right tool. A drone, he said, could fly up to high rises and look inside windows. A helicopter can’t do that.

And a drone program, he said, is different than the department’s High Activity Location Observation cameras. The city has more than 100 of the cameras set up in high-crime areas that keep a constant video feed on activities.

“A HALO can cover about a block, but it doesn’t do things like think,” he said. “A drone can capture every single license plate number that drives into that area. … It’s not like we haven’t had discussions about it. But we aren’t going there now.”


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