Big news on the law enforcment side: sheriff gets blanket permission to use sUAS
Gary at sUAS news has an important story on what looks like the first blanket permission to use sUAS (in this case, a RC multicopter with a camera) by a law enforcement agency in the US:
Mesa County, Colorado— Recently the Sheriff’s Office received notification from the
Federal Aviation Administration of their approval to fly the Unmanned Aerial System
(UAS)—with some restrictions, anywhere in Mesa County. Previously, the FAA had only
approved a one year Certificate Of Authorization (COA) to fly within a one mile area at the
Mesa County Landfill.The UAS equipment tested at the Sheriff’s Office is a Draganflyer X6 model. The
Canadian made X6 is on lease at no charge to the Sheriff’s Office, which is leading the way
in testing UAS for law enforcement purposes. The Sheriff’s Office had submitted their
application for a COA, asking for county-wide approval to fly the Draganflyer, last June.We are one of only a few law enforcement agencies in the Country currently flying UAS
and this marks the largest flight approval for law enforcement to date.Quartermaster Ben Miller, who is one of two Draganflyer pilots for the Sheriff’s Office will
be on hand to fly the Draganflyer and do media interviews at 10 a.m. on Thursday,
February 10th. This media event will be at the Sheriff’s Office front parking lot. We are
doing this onetime event due to all local media inquiring about this new COA.
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Comment by Dano on February 11, 2011 at 4:53pm -
Great news for the industry!
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Comment by Ron Jacobs on February 11, 2011 at 5:18pm
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That is good.
I'd like to see what camera they will be using on the X6. It sits quite exposed below the X6 so that may limit use in adverse weather.
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Comment by Rory Paul on February 11, 2011 at 5:25pm -
The one in the picture is a Flir Indigo thermal core. It would be all but useless in rainy, foggy weather. They will probably have a visual, thermal and low light packages they can use. This story is really a good news!
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Comment by Duane Brocious on February 11, 2011 at 9:36pm -
What I find funny/sad about these police units is that a real criminal will simply shoot it out of the sky. Only useful for spying on people stealing garbage from the landfill, oh wait, that was what they were originally doing with it. Good thing it is a free lease. Waste of taxpayers money otherwise. Would love to be given the opportunity to do a test for them with my Mauser 8MM, dropping a hovering heli is easier than shooting clays, don't even need the shotgun.
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Comment by Russkel on February 12, 2011 at 4:02am
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An excuse to arm your RC planes :)? Now you have a moving target.
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Comment by Jared S on February 12, 2011 at 8:46am
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It's the first official approval...
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Comment by Darren on February 12, 2011 at 2:01pm -
its not really free to the taxpayer, just free to the sheriff's dept who will use it, the company gets a share of the booty... needless to say, just follow the money ;) its like the stop light and speed cameras "all in the name of public safety" lol
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Comment by Duane Brocious on February 12, 2011 at 3:06pm
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Booty? Well they won't be using this to nab any real criminals. Just stealing cars and houses from potheads.
Just another excuse to not want a solution to the drug problem in this country. Too many in Govt making easy money off it.
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It would be interesting to know what the restrictions are...
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Comment by bGatti on February 12, 2011 at 4:02pm -
Camels's head is in the tent.
This really is big news. Every hour of death-free operation moves the facts on the ground. Pretty soon, UAV will be demonstrably safer than manned flight in flight hours per casualty.
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