Right at a month ago, officials from the City of Hattiesburg launched an initiative to learn about new technologies to help first responders accomplish their jobs more easily, including the possibility of introducing drone-supported assist for the city’s fire and police departments, along with camera-assisted support for the police department.
Members of Hattiesburg City Council and city administration were able to get an update on that matter at the February 5 council work session, when Mayor Toby Barker and Hattiesburg Police Department chief Hardy Sims discussed the progress of the drones, which has also been addressed at three town hall meetings in recent weeks.
“We’ve got two more town halls … and then we’ll kind of bring those findings and feedback to city council and see what the will of the city and council is,” Barker said. “We’re coming off a year where aggravated assaults fell by half – it was a very good year.
“But law enforcement continues to evolve, and we need to make sure that we’re giving our men and women the tools they need to do their jobs better, safer and more efficient, so that’s where we’re at in this conversation. We’re not trying to convince the citizens of anything, but we are saying to the public that here are things that we get complaints about, and here are the tools to help us get out there and solve those (problems).”
The use of drone technology is expected to help firefighters see through heat and smoke to gain accurate information with a lower risk of harm and accidents for personnel. Drones would provide situational awareness regardless of conditions at the scene, without firefighters making entry into a facility beforehand.
Officials say those devices would help police provide immediate assessments of the circumstances at any given scene – both inside and outside – with the use of cameras, flood lights and mapping sensors. Two-way audio also would allow for communication and assessment with suspects and other individuals.
As an example of that measure, Sims discussed the implementation of the Drone as First Responder program in Chula Vista, California, which was implemented in that city in October 2018.
According to data provided by officials from Chula Vista, of the 18,225 calls Chula Vista PD has responded to with their DFR program since 2018, 4,156 resulted in the agency not needing to dispatch a patrol unit.
“Once the drone gets overhead and views the situation, it determines that no officer (is required at the scene),” Sims said. “So dispatch can disregard some of those units that (would be) responding, and still attend to the business or home.
“One they get there, they can ask if police are needed; if so, maybe one unit responds, so it’s a time-saving effort there.”
Data also shows that drones respond to calls faster than traditional measures, with an average of 97 seconds between the time dispatch hits “deploy” and the drone makes first contact at the scene.
“The commander, or pilot of the drone, can relay that information back to responding officers,” Sims said.
The drones can be used in the following measures, among others:
- Fire/medical: Emergency medical delivery, search and rescue, house fires and hazmat.
- Law enforcement: domestic violence and assault, suspicious persons, traffic collisions and active shooter events.
“These drones can deliver small amounts of medicine, like Narcan and EpiPen, or search and rescue,” Sims said. “If you have an elderly person or a child lost, you can put the drone up and search and rescue.
“House fires, they can get overhead and give information to the fire commander or fire chief about hot spots, so they can know, before they get on scene, how to fight this fire.”
The two future town hall meetings on the matter are scheduled as follows:
- Ward 4: 7 p.m. February 22 at Sigler Center, 315 Conti Street in Hattiesburg; and
- Ward 5: 7 p.m. February 27 at Lillie Burney Learning Center, 901 Ida Avenue in Hattiesburg.
