Police tell Lodi Council about its use of drones

The use of drones by local law enforcement was discussed during Tuesday’s Lodi City Council shirtsleeve session.

Lodi Police Lt. Steve Nelson briefed the council on the drone the department has acquired and how they plan to use it.

During the past year, the department worked with the city attorney on developing a policy and a plan of operations. Nelson and Sgt. Kevin Kent also attended symposiums and trainings, trying to get as much information as they could to bring back to council for input. In February, the department applied for a blanket certificate of authorization from the FAA that would allow it to fly drones as a government agency. It was granted in March and the Lodi Police Foundation purchased a drone.

More recently, the department was able to obtain a waiver to fly drones at night. In addition, police have also been able to secure all the appropriate regulatory paperwork for operating drones, and the department currently has three licensed pilots for the unit and are training more. The drone the police have acquired is called the DJI Phantom 4 and was purchased for $2,500.

“It’s a very sturdy robust machine that can take some abuse as we learn how to use it, train with it, deploy it and hopefully get into more advanced units as the program evolves,” Nelson said.

The drone is able travel up to 44 miles per hour and has a maximum flight time of 28 minutes.

“They stay up very long before we have to come down for a fresh battery,” Nelson said. “If we were doing an operation, we wouldn’t be able to maintain surveillance on the situation for more than about 20 minutes because you have to have that time to come back before it runs completely out of battery.”

The drone can ascend to a height of 19,685 feet, but the FAA doesn’t allow it to be flown above 400 feet.

Nelson said the department looked into drones because air support is often unavailable, with Lodi having to rely on units from the Sacramento Police Department, Sacramento Sheriff’s Department or California Highway Patrol, Nelson said.

“All of those are dependent on whether they are up and flying that night, or if they’re doing something in their jurisdiction,” Nelson said. “We’re pretty successful with getting an airplane from CHP, but they come out of Auburn and it could be hours before they get here. It would allow us to expedite that process.”

Lodi Police will use drones to search a large area for a missing person, clear rooftops and yards for wanted subjects, to get overhead photographs of collision scenes, collect evidence, assist with fires and provide emergency management during natural disasters and hazardous incidents.

“We could have it flying in five minutes and doing all those things that we would normally either have to take a fire truck out of service for an hour or wait an hour for an air unit from another jurisdiction to come. We would be back in service and done with our mission before those resources normally even get to us,” Nelson said.

The DJI Phantom 4 does not have night time capability and that’s something police hope to get in the future. A drone with that capability would cost up to $28,000 to $30,000 and has a better optical camera, Nelson said. Nelson added that the DJI Phantom 4 doesn’t have any zoom capabilities.

“Most agencies start with this,” Nelson said. “It’s their workhorse machine for day-today operations without getting the big fancy one out. If they need to clear something during daylight hours, this could fly in and do the job sufficiently. If you’re looking at flying at night or having more stand-off capabilities, you have to look at more expensive equipment.”