EVERETT—During an emergency, every second matters. The average response time within the City of Everett for priority one calls—the most urgent and life-threatening situations—in 2024, according to Everett Police, was four minutes, or 240 seconds. The Everett Police Department will be deploying two cutting-edge first responder drones, a first in Snohomish County and the second city following Redmond in Washington state, reducing response times by up to 63 percent—to just under 90 seconds!
“We’re excited to launch the ‘Drone as a First Responder’ pilot program, bringing our current use of drones to the next level,” said Mayor Franklin during her State of the City presentation in March. “Technology like this is a force multiplier, allowing us to do more with limited resources and deliver real results for our community.”
Each drone will rapidly deploy from either a northern or southern docking location allowing live video feed of a situation to assist first responders in real-time anywhere within the boundaries of Everett. The drones, which will be operated by an Everett Police Officer, will be deployed ahead of ground units to assist with search and rescue, the apprehension of criminal suspects, and de-escalation, specifically, providing critical real-time video to assess appropriate situational responsiveness.
“Having information at the scene more quickly than we’ve had it in the past is going to be critical for their [officer’s] safety and ultimately for the safety of our community,” Captain Robert Goetz told councilmembers during Wednesday’s Everett Council Community Health and Safety Committee meeting.
Goetz, a 34-year veteran with the Everett Police Department, is the lead project manager responsible for implementing the Drone as First Responder program by June of this year. Major upcoming project miles stones are FAA approvals as Everett is adjacent to Seattle Paine Field International Airport and Flock approvals for the two docking locations—tentatively South Precinct and Wall Street.
Drone technology, officially called Unmanned Aircraft Systems, is not new to the Everett Police Department. In 2021, EPD applied for, and was awarded, a Department of Homeland Security federal grant used to purchase drones. In October of that year, four operators attended a Basic Operator’s Course hosted by the Tulalip Police Department to receive their FAA part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate.
With privacy and 4th amendment protections in mind, EPD approved its official Unmanned Aircraft Systems policy on January 12, 2022, and beginning that month, the first set of drones were deployed to assist in K9 tracking of suspects, search and rescue operations and cold crime cases.
Captain Goetz shared with councilmembers, specifically Councilman Ben Zarlingo, that the “policy was written in consultation with the A.C.L.U., the Department of Justice, the COPS Office, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police,” and that it will extend to the new Drone as First Responder program. The existing policy provides guidance on the following:
- Adherence and respect for civil rights;
- Limitations and purpose of use;
- Documentation of operations;
- Data minimization and retention;
- Adherence to FAA regulations;
- Policy management; and
- Abuse prevention and accountability.
Captain Goetz shared that the Drone as First Responder program will not be used for:
- Proactive routine patrol.
- Random surveillance.
- Immigration enforcement.
- The monitoring of First Amendment activities.
- Tracking persons or vehicles to or from medical facilities to monitor health care services—e.g. Planned Parenthood.
The drones will not be equipped with facial recognition software, won’t track a vehicle’s speed, nor will be used to aid in parking enforcement. The First Responder Drones will integrate with both the Sno911 to provide real-time caller information to the certified officer pilot and EPD’s Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras to combat vehicle thefts.
The drones will not be surveilling the City of Everett looking for criminal activity but instead be deployed in response to an existing call or to a positive stolen vehicle match by one of the City’s Flock Safety Cameras.
Drone as First Responder by Flock
The Drone as First Responder program will be a two-year pilot program agreement with Flock Safety with a one-year opt out option. For its first year, Flock is supplying one drone at no cost to EPD and a second drone at a reduced rate of $50,000 which will be funded through an existing public safety grant. If EPD were to continue the program for its second year, the expected expense to lease both drones and docking stations (including pilot, software, and 3D radar) is approximately $300,000.
Everett Police Chief John DeRousse shared with councilmembers that he and his staff are exploring public-private partnerships, public-public partnerships, and grant opportunities to fully fund the program for its second year.
“We’ll actively look for funding for year two with the assumption that this program proves to be something that we believe, and you believe, our community members want,” said Chief DeRousse.
Flock’s Drone First Responder is fully automated and remote controlled using a laptop or desk computer. One officer can pilot multiple drones at the same time. Unlike conventional drones deployed by hand at a location by ground units, the Drone First Responder is deployed remotely in real-time as a 911 call is in progress providing information about the incident while broadcasting video to any computer, tablet, or phone. All data transmission to and from the drone is encrypted.
The drones fly up to 53 mph, have thermal and nighttime vison capabilities, a 400X zoom, and can cover up to 38 square miles per deployment. Due to FAA restrictions, the drones are limited to a flying altitude of 400 feet. After 42 minutes of continuous use, the drone will return to its docking station to automatically self-swap batteries allowing it to immediately be redeployed to an incident.
EPD will launch a public-facing webpage, updated daily, that will provide transparency to the community with flight maps, and metrics such as response times, calls cleared, number of subjects located, etc.
A latent benefit to Flock’s Drone First Responder is what is called “cleared calls for service.” These are calls that are responded to by the Drone First Responder and are cleared without the need of a physical ground unit response better improving the utilization of existing law enforcement and emergency medical teams—e.g. calls where the suspect fled a non-violent incident or an EMT is not needed. Data from Flock shows between 15-20 percent of Drone First Responder calls are classified as “cleared calls for service.”
“It’s going to dramatically reduce our call response time on all our calls because the calls that come in that look like [high] priority are already cleared off before I [physically] look at them as an officer, as I’m responding. I get real situational awareness of stuff that’s happening ahead of me that allows me to change my response,” said Chief DeRousse.
“It helps our officers be more efficient and allows them to use their time better,” he added.
In April 2024, the City of Redmond became the first in Washington state to implement the Drone as First Responder (DFR) program. Partnering with Seattle-based BRINC Drones, the DFR program cost the City of Redmond approximately $100,000 its first year and $225,000 the following year.
From April 1 through September 30, 2024, Redmond’s Drone as First Responder program responded to 380 calls, assisted in 20 arrests, and located 40 people according to data provided to its city council in an October meeting.
Community Outreach and Feedback
The Everett Police Department will be holding a series of Drone as First Responder community outreach sessions for residents to learn more about the program.
The first information session is virtual and is scheduled for Thursday, April 3, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Here, Everett Chief DeRousse, department staff, and representatives from Flock Safety will answer questions.
Below are details to attend the April 3 meeting:
- Join the meeting now
- Meeting ID: 234 066 476 808
- Passcode: xz6zK2qx
Author: Mario Lotmore
