3 days ago
Tools and technology: ‘Drone as a First Responder' piloted in Lenexa
LENEXA, Kan. — Police in Lenexa are using innovative tools and technology to keep officers and the community safe when responding to emergency calls.
The 'Drone as a First Responder' program was introduced to Lenexa in March. It's being added to the department's already existing drone fleet.
'Right now, we believe we are the first in the Kansas City Metro to establish a 'Drone as a First Responder Program,'' Officer Danny Chavez said.
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It supplies eyes on the scene before officers arrive. The collaboration is with the Lenexa Fire Department, and it's used within 'any call' where responders think a difference could be made.
Drones, though, aren't new to Lenexa, but having one be deployed remotely is.
'We can get a drone over the scene minutes before an officer arrives and feed real-time information to our dispatchers and our officers,' Officer Danny Chavez with Lenexa PD shared.
So far, success has been seen; it's shortened response times.
'We've seen two minutes shaved off our response time,' Chavez said in reference to emergency response calls.
There has also been a reduction in response times, on average, by four minutes with non-emergency calls, too.
From March to May, this specific drone has been used nearly 130 times.
'That was from everything from a suspicious person wandering in the area, that we wanted to check out before officers got on scene, to car crashes and disturbances and active thefts, etc.'
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You can see, highlighted in yellow, when this DFR (Drone as a First Responder) drone was deployed during recent emergency calls.
There will be an amendment to the 2025-2029 Capital Improvement Program to include the Drone as a First Responder Program and an agreement with Paladin Drones, Inc.
'The Drone as a First Responder Drone, we've just been piloting one over the last couple of months, and we were just approved by the governing body here in Lenexa to purchase six more.'
There will be seven total of this kind operating in Lenexa.
You can read the June 3 Lenexa City Council agenda here.
'The 2025-2029 Capital Improvement Program needs to be amended to add funds for the first year of the full implementation of the Drone as First Responder (DFR) Program, which is $300,535. Annual maintenance costs for years two through five are $173,700 and will be paid from the Police Department's operating budget. The total five-year cost is $995,335,' a Lenexa City Council document reads.
Over the next few months, the additional six drones will be stationed throughout the city, having a home base, and making sure the community is covered.
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