LEDA conference brings together police agencies from across the country.
By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill
About 70 police agencies from across the country took part within the Law Enforcement Drone Association (LEDA) fourth annual conference, where participants took part in seminars on various facets of done use in emergency management operations and took part in flight training exercises.
The conference, held in Bend, Oregon, Sept. 26 through Sept. 29, featured sessions focused on establishing a drone-as-first-responder program, crash/crime scene reconstruction, and maintaining a successful drone program through public transparency and community outreach, Brandon Karr, LEDA at-large board member and public information officer, said in an interview.
Greater than 150 conference public safety officers and staff members took part within the conference, the association’s largest annual event. Although most participants represented police and public safety agencies based within the Pacific Northwest, the event attracted participants from states as far-off as Texas, Minnesota and Hawaii, Karr said.
Along with the indoor educational and discussion sessions, participants got the chance to get some hands-on drone operation experience, flying along a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-approved course.
“We do basic pilot proficiency for them, type of like an annual qualification to point out that they’re proficient for flight operations,” Karr said. “We speak about find out how to fly for emergency procedures.”
Police and public service agency drone pilots received instruction in find out how to handle lost communication link situations, in addition to find out how to perform leapfrog operations involving multiple drones and pilots, during which the pilots learn find out how to coordinate with each other with a view to maintain persistent statement on a moving goal.
The conference also featured new-product demonstrations where vendors showed off their wares and allowed participants to get some hands-on experience with their latest drones and gadgets. “The aim of those conferences is to offer loads of really good information but additionally provide loads of really good stick time so that folks can practice flying and practice some tactics,” Karr said.
With membership representing greater than 700 police and public safety agencies, LEDA was formed to foster inter-agency collaboration and encourage the implementation of best drone practices amongst its member agencies.
The group’s annual conference and its smaller, regional events allow members to brush up on their training, earn a needed certificate and discuss the challenges common amongst all public safety agency drone programs, Karr said.
Among the many challenges facing police drone programs is establishing and maintaining the general public’s trust. Ensuring this system is operated in a transparent manner, in addition to ensuring that the controlling agency has a sturdy community outreach program, are vital components toward securing the general public’s buy-in, crucial to allowing police drone programs to operate, he said.
“We speak about find out how to be sure that that you just’re doing proper reporting. We speak about federal, state and native laws … to be sure that that all of us are utilizing drones in a way that the community would promote,” Karr said. It’s necessary that the general public understands the principles that public service agency drone programs follow to guard the general public’s privacy. One other community relations goal is “ensuring that everyone understands where we will and can’t fly, when we’d like a warrant and when will we not need a warrant.”
One other pressing issue facing many public safety drone programs is the rising call by state legislators to ban the agencies from flying drones produces by DJI or other China-based corporations. Such bans, instituted to make sure that data collected by American public safety drones doesn’t wind up within the possession of the Chinese communist party, could prove problematic for agencies which have already established UAS fleets, composed primarily or totally of China-based drones.
In Florida, a ban on the use by public service agencies of drones made in “countries of concern” went into effect in April. This put police and fire departments, and another state agencies, which had already spent roughly $200 million on DJI and other Chinese drones, in a pickle. (Read the Florida law here.)
The Florida state legislature has sought to melt the blow by allocating $25 million to assist public service agencies replace their Chinese-made drones with those from an American or other approved manufacturer.
Karr said LEDA is encouraging its members to lobby the legislatures of their respective states to hunt other measures to guard the safety of drone-collected data, wanting so-called “country of origin” bans.
“We don’t want what happened in Florida to occur again. We understand the priority in utilizing Chinese equipment, but there are higher pathways that we will take that it could safeguard our data,” he said. He suggested that other steps that states could take might include mandating using third-party flight software for China-made drones, or requiring the installation of onboard computers that allow the drones to be flown completely offline.
Among the many other topics discussed on the Bender conference was “Case Law/Search and Seizure for UAS.” As is the case with other educational topics, Karr said LEDA’s instructional sessions attempt to set a basic standard for searches and seizures, that are applicable in every jurisdiction, no matter variables in state and native regulations. “With regards to providing an ordinary, it’s essential have a minimum requirement,” he said. “We attempt to teach it to where you obviously have to double check together with your state, local laws, after which you’ve gotten to fly in accordance with those.”
Along with its annual conference in Bend, LEDA also holds regional conferences and training sessions all year long. The following regional conference is scheduled to be held in Pearland, Texas, January 31 and February 1, 2024.
Read more: