Early this summer, Mike Herdman went missing during a camping trip in Los Padres National Forest in California. Rescuers searched for the 34-year-old firefighter, but the forest spanned an area twice the size of the Grand Canyon. The story ended on a sad note, when Herdman was later found dead, presumably from an accidental fall. However, during the search process, authorities were able to cover more ground in a shorter amount of time than a typical search on foot, thanks to the use of unmanned vehicles.1
Unmanned vehicles, often referred to as drones, are frequently on the receiving end of close scrutiny, especially when used in domestic situations. But these vehicles are not used only in the surveillance capacity with which they are most typically associated. According to experts, unmanned vehicles can have an impact in other ways, such as helping law enforcement agencies get a bird’s-eye view of a situation without risking officer safety or breaking the bank for traditional manned aircraft.
“Use of these vehicles has really expanded. Everyone has seen their uses, both some positive and some negative,” said Bill Davidson, CEO of UAV Solutions, Inc., an unmanned vehicle manufacturer based in Jessup, Maryland. “These products can be used for more than just surveillance. They are not spying vehicles. They can be used for things like search and rescue. Rather than an eye in the sky, they can be seen as more of a force multiplier.”2
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are generally defined as any aircraft that can fly without a human pilot on board. Their most famous incarnation is probably the so-called Predator drone, used by both the U.S. Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency and whose live combat and reconnaissance roles in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, among other military theaters, has been widely documented.
Though government and military leaders have lauded Predator drones for their precision and effectiveness, their use has also met with criticism from foreign governments and human rights groups that claim drone strikes are responsible for high numbers of civilian deaths.
As many domestic law enforcement agencies are instituting or expanding UAV surveillance programs, a number of state legislatures are moving to restrict the use of drones via methods such as enacting legislation requiring probable cause warrants before drones may be used in an investigation.
With legislators and the public concerned about their use, the future of UAVs as surveillance tools is uncertain. However, many different styles of UAVs exist, and drone manufacturers point out several uses for UAVs besides surveillance that can enhance public safety and law enforcement efforts without stoking fears about privacy or igniting public controversy.
“Unmanned vehicles have a large number of applications,” said Steve Gitlin, vice president of communications at AeroVironment, Inc., a California-based maker of UAVs, including the ones used to search for Herdman. “You can conduct aerial searches for a lost person, for a senior citizen who has wandered away in an urban environment, or to increase situational awareness in a hazardous event. They are enormously useful in recovery operations.”3 Gitlin tells the story of police officers who pursued a suspect into a cornfield. After some time, using a UAV allowed the officers to determine that the suspect was no longer in the field, thus preventing a continued search that would have exhausted many man-hours with no useful outcome.
Drones and other models are being specifically made with the law enforcement community’s needs—and budgets—in mind. Rotary vehicles like the Phoenix 60 by UAV Solutions and Qube by AeroVironment allow first responders to literally rise above the scene. “[Unmanned aerial vehicles] give the law enforcement agents and first responders more efficiency on their missions,” Davidson said. “It allows them to inspect areas more quickly and more thoroughly. We’re taking what has been learned in the last decade around unmanned systems and bringing it to law enforcement, and at a lower cost.”4
In a law enforcement context, most unmanned vehicles are either a small, fixed-wing airplane that is launched by hand, or a rotary hovering aircraft more akin to a tiny helicopter. In both cases, pilots control the aircraft from the ground. Most public safety drones are equipped with tools like cameras, infrared sensors, and communications links.
Beyond that, physical dimensions can vary. Some, like UAV Solutions’ Phoenix 15, are small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. Others, like AeroVironment’s fixed-wing Raven aircraft—which AeroVironment claims is the most widely used UAV in the world—are longer; the Raven has a 4.5-foot wingspan.
UAV Solutions’ Phoenix 60, another rotary-style model, can be ready to deploy in minutes. It has a battery life of 40 minutes when not tethered to a power source and has a travel range of up to two miles. The 15-pound, 30-inch vehicle can fit in the trunk or bed of any vehicle.
Rotary drones, like the Phoenix models or AeroVironment’s Qube, have some advantages over their fixed-wing counterparts. For one, federal regulations can be restrictive for traditional UAVs, but do not apply to rotary drones. Rotaries also have maneuverability. “They can hover in place and can work in confined spaces,” Gitlin said. “They are small, portable, and fly low, so you can get a better view of whatever you’re looking at.”5
Fixed-wing drones tend to have more flight ability. AeroVironment’s Puma model has a 9.2-foot wingspan and weighs 13.5 pounds. It can travel up to 15 kilometers at an altitude of up to 500 feet.
According to Davidson, a military drone would be effective for law enforcement, but can cost between $50,000 and $100,000— well out of range for many law enforcement agencies. A hobbyist’s unmanned vehicle, meanwhile, might cost only as little as a few hundred dollars, but would not come
equipped with all the needed capabilities.
UAV Solutions’ models for law enforcement and public safety agencies start at $3,500, with a top price tag of around $30,000. These devices are especially cost-effective when compared to the average police helicopter, which has more capabilities but would require more maintenance and training costs, as well as the higher up-front expenditure.
“Having a helicopter or an aerial unit may require multitudes of people for maintenance and to operate the vehicles,” Davidson said. “The cost per hour of a helicopter is higher than it is for unmanned vehicles.”6 Officers also can learn to pilot drones without extensive experience or training. AeroVironment offers online training that can be completed in short order and a ground control interface that can be operated using a mobile tablet device. Officers need not have any prior flight experience in order to be eligible to train for drone pilot certification.
In the fall, UAV Solutions also unveiled DragonView, a new line of sensors that can be integrated into existing air vehicles and other structures. The digitally stabilized sensors contain video recording and object tracking technologies. “It provides a better asset than a toy,” Davidson said. “It is not a spying [tool]. Small municipalities can go in and assess a situation prior to sending in agents and prior to using more of their assets.”7
Several other companies manufacture a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles for use in the public safety and law enforcement sectors. Bethesda, Maryland–based aeronautics engineering giant Lockheed Martin is one company to enter this space in recent years, and smaller companies such as ReconRobotics, headquartered in Edina, Minnesota, and the Ontario-based company Frontline Robotics also create unmanned aerial vehicles. Even European automobile manufacturer Saab has developed the Seaeye, an underwater unmanned vehicle. ♦
Notes:
1“Drones, Harmonicas Boost Search for Missing Firefighter,” Good Morning America, June 20, 2014.
2Bill Davidson (CEO, UAV Solutions, Inc.), telephone interview, September 16, 2014.
3Steve Gitlin (vice president of communications, AeroVironment, Inc.), telephone interview, September 16, 2014.
4Bill Davidson, telephone interview, September 16, 2014.
5Steve Gitlin, telephone interview, September 16, 2014.
6Bill Davidson, telephone interview, September 16, 2014.
7Ibid.
Please cite as:
Scott Harris, “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: More Than a Surveillance Tool,” Product Feature, The Police Chief 81 (October 2014): 66–67.
Source List for Unmanned Vehicles
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems (AUVSI)
Frontline Robotics
