GREELEY, Colo. (KDVR) — The Greeley Police Department is exploring a high-tech leap in public safety by testing drones that could one day be the first on scene when someone calls 911.
“We’re hoping to see the impact that the drone as a first responder has on our response time and the type of information we’re trying to gain as we get to a call to identify suspects, directions of travel, and just provide real-time information to our responding officers,” said
Tanya Gutierrez, commander with the Greeley Police Department.
During this weeklong pilot program, Greeley police, along with fire, emergency management, and public works, are testing how drones could speed up response times and provide crucial information before boots hit the ground.
Gutierrez says it isn’t just about policing.
“It could check hazards when we have blizzards or weather-related events,” she said. “We can send a drone out rather than vehicles or other departments. We can visually search for people that might be stranded in a blizzard.”
The department is partnering with Tech Company Skydio, using drones that can be launched remotely and fly up to 200 feet high.
From there, the live video goes straight to trained operators inside the building.
“We just had a success not five minutes ago where we had a theft in progress,” said Gutierrez. “The drone was able to identify the suspect who was somewhat hiding in an alleyway, and we were able to guide our police officers directly into that suspect and place them into custody less than five minutes ago.”
Growing number of agencies embracing drone responders
The program is a part of a national growing trend. The Lakewood Police Department has the program up and running.
“There are several other agencies in Colorado that are looking to implement drone as a first responder,” Gutierrez said. “So, the quick success is going to be the arrests that we make. Success would be us getting to major incidents under two minutes and just really sharing the impact that the drones have on our day-to-day workings.”
The department hopes to make the program permanent.
“Much like every other city and across the country,” said Gutierrez. “There’s technology is not cheap, so we’re trying to work through grants and other means to implement. For this one, I’ve been told it was approximately $75,000. That’s one year, one drone.”
Greeley officials say it’s worth the cost and they say if the program moves forward, they’ll make flight paths public within 24 hours to keep the community informed.
“As a first responder, we’re not out to spy on you,” Gutierrez said. “We’re out to make our community safer. Make our officers safer and really make the citizens of Greeley safer and respond in an emergency.”
For now, it’s just a test, but if the data shows real results, Greeley could be one of the cities in Colorado to have a full-time drone as a first responder program.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
