LAPD now using palm-size drones inside buildings

Since the Los Angeles Police Department's drone program got off the ground about four years ago, the officers who pilot the small, flying machines with cameras attached have been finding different ways of using them.

Most of the time, that has meant sending up a drone to get a better view of a property where someone might be barricaded with a weapon. Or it could mean hovering a drone over an area for a wider view as police try to track down a fleeing suspect.

Now, commanders told the Police Commission on Tuesday, officers have gotten access to drones small and maneuverable enough to fly inside a building almost as well as they do outside. And that's opening up far more options for the department's small fleet of drones.

“Now that we're seeing their capabilities — how fast they are, how agile — we're finding that they are remaining mobile inside,” said Deputy Chief David Kowalski.

It was not clear Tuesday how often LAPD has flown a drone inside a building since the department first got official approval for their use in 2019. In the first year they were used, the department deployed its drones sparingly: Just five times starting in August 2020 over the next 12 months.

In one of those early incidents, a pilot briefly flew a drone through a broken window to peer inside a room where officers believed a domestic violence suspect was holed up. But the drone did not spend much time inside the building before the officers were given the go-ahead to enter themselves.

More than three years later, LAPD's use of drones is rising. From July 2022 to June, police deployed drones 10 times.

Kowalski said LAPD now has drones that look like tiny, palm-sized quadcopters, small and nimble enough to spend long periods inside a building. New models have also come with protective features that prevent the drones from being downed by clipping a wall or other obstructions.

Kowalski pointed to a recent case in Valinda, an unincorporated community in the San Gabriel Valley, where LAPD was called to help the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department during the serving of a warrant at a home.

It started around 5 p.m. March 11. For more than half a day, deputies attempted to get the person they thought was barricaded inside to come out.

The Sheriff's Department sent its own drones inside to look for the person. One after another, their bulkier drones with less battery power kept failing.

“It was all sorts of stuff — they hit things; their batteries died,” Kowalski said. “They were all over the floor, dead.”

Kowalski said LAPD's drones stayed up for a total of almost 31/2 hours. They were able to search the entire building, eventually finding the person they were looking for dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Numerous law enforcement officials have promoted drones as tools that can cut down on the number of hours police spend at emergency scenes and reduce the need for bulky, armored vehicles and helicopters.

Law enforcement officials have previously said drones offer several advantages over helicopters. They're far less expensive to maintain and fuel up. And their small size and maneuverability make them more flexible.

“When you watch these things — they really buzz,” Kowalski said. “They go `zip, zip, zip, zip.' They're in and out of a building with a good camera view.”

But the devices also came with controversy: For years, critics opposed LAPD's adoption of drones, saying the devices would vastly expand the department's surveillance powers. LAPD similarly was criticized for accepting the donation of a four-legged robot police dog dubbed Spot, whose capabilities include being able to open doors with its extendable arm

On Tuesday, commissioners indicated support for LAPD's continued use of drones and robots.

Commission President Erroll Southers, a former SWAT team officer, asked Kowalski how many of the incidents where police used a drone ended with officers using their firearms.

“Zero,” Kowalski said.