The Brick police department’s drone. (Photo: Brick Twp. Police)
Brick police officers now have a new eye in the sky.
The department has acquired a drone that can be used for numerous purposes, from hunting down a suspect to searching for missing persons and assisting during Amber alerts.
The drone will be piloted by one of two officers who have gone through training to become certified drone pilots, said Sgt. Timothy Boyle.
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“The officers attended schooling at Eagle View Aviation in Farmingdale,” said Boyle. “After completion of schooling, [the] officers had to pass a sixty question exam that was administered by the FAA.”
The use of the drone must be authorized by the chief of police, said Boyle. The officers will follow all of the provisions set forth by both the FAA as well as the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, which has spelled out rules for the use of drones in law enforcement.
The drone will be utilized for the following law enforcement purposes:
- Search and Rescue—Missing Persons Investigations, Amber alerts, Silver Alerts, and other search and rescue missions.
- Scene Documentation—to document a crash scene, a crime scene, or other major incident scene.
- Situational Awareness: To assist decision makers in understanding the nature, scale, and scope of an incident and for planning an effective response.
- Visual Perspective: To provide an aerial visual perspective to assist law enforcement personnel in providing direction for crowd control, traffic incident management, special circumstances, and temporary perimeter security.
- Tactical Deployment: to support the tactical deployment of law enforcement personnel and equipment in emergency situations
The department is looking to expand its drone program in the future to include additional licensed police officers and a drone equipped with night vision capabilities.
