22-05-2025
It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Super Drone!
The city of Wichita Falls has applied for a grant that would bring a super drone to the skies over the city.
If the city gets the grant, it would acquire a smart drone capable of beating police and firefighters to the scene of crimes and mishaps.
"Say you have a motor vehicle theft occurring or a burglary occurring or a fire. We can launch this thing and it gets there before our first responders get to it, and we can get eyes on what's happening in that situation prior to our arrival," Police Chief Manuel Borrego told councilors on Tuesday. "If there's a fire, we can send it out, the fire department can look at it and see what's going on and if they need to send more help."
Borrego said the drone would be kept in a strategic location where a dispatcher or designated person could launch it. He said the drone can also launch itself when certain 911 calls come in. When its assignment is done, it can fly back to its home base, land, and change out its batteries.
The drone would be part of a $305,000 catalytic converter grant from the Texas Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority. The city would have to pay $61,000 of the cost.
Borrego said the city probably will not hear back about the application until late 2026.
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This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Super Drone!
