By WMBD TV
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — The Bloomington Police Department held a community drone forum to address concerns and questions the community has about their new drone tech.
The meeting also gave the department the chance to explain to the community what they are and are not using the drones for.
“I think by and large, why does the Bloomington Police Department have drones? What are police agencies using drones for? It’s not enough to say that we think they’re interesting and emerging technology, and they’re going to add capabilities. But a citizen is owed a reason why,” said Stg. Jared Bierbaum, drone coordinator for BPD.
Bierbaum mentioned that the reason they have drones is not to do widespread surveillance or facial recognition, but to help clean up crashes faster, find missing children and more.
“We’re trying to have a faster response and more real-time information going back to officers. What we’re not trying to do is any proactive surveillance. What we’re not trying to do is put an attachment on there that will help us do radar or lidar,” Bierbaum said.
He also shared an example of how these drones have already been used to handle calls more quickly.
“One of the examples was there’s a female on the railroad tracks,” he said. “It was late at night, and the second shift was out there, and they weren’t able to locate the female. We put a drone up into the air, and 20 to 30 seconds later, we had located her, and we could get her to the services she needed.”
The department also wants to be transparent with the drones and how they are being used.
“Making the citizens and everyone understand what we plan to do and what we can do, and then again, what capabilities those drones have, and then what we’re not using them for. It’s just so important to have that transparency link that everyone can answer or it can have answers to all their questions,” he said.
You can find the transparency portal on BPD’s website, which shows the reason for the flight, where it went and at what time, and you can also see the exact path it took each time.
WMBD TV first reported this story. You can read the original story online at CIProud.com.
