The City of Summit Police Department is announcing the launch of a drone program to enhance its law enforcement and public safety operations, including search and rescue, crowd control and monitoring, searches for missing persons and suspects at large, accident assessment, traffic data collection, and more. The drone is equipped with a high-resolution camera and thermal imaging capabilities.
Four Summit police officers have become professionally certified as FAA licensed drone pilots, undergoing training in airspace regulations and drone operation tactics. The department hopes to expand the fleet and certify additional officers as needed.
“This valuable addition to our department will provide assistance in a number of emergency situations,” says Chief Steven Zagorski. “There are thousands of law enforcement agencies around the country that have seen great success with their drone programs, and we are hopeful that ours will allow us to expand our capabilities across our different service areas.”
Chief Zagorski continues: “The drone can be rapidly deployed and arrive at an accident scene, structure fire, or another emergency scenario before first responders and provide real-time situational awareness that will help us make more informed decisions, de-escalate situations when possible, and identify possible hazards.”
View the presentation made at the Tuesday, March 5, Common Council meeting at www.cityofsummit.org/police or watch the meeting on the city YouTube channel.
Contact the Summit Police Department at 908-273-0051 with any questions on the program.