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Drones offer more than meets the eye



Summit and Portage County Metro SWAT has three drones, one each for indoor and outdoor use and a third dual-use drone, and also uses drones owned by the individual agencies depending on the situation and the need. Photo: Brian Lisik

SOUTH SUMMIT — Not long ago, the idea of guiding a remote-control device with a mounted camera 400 feet into the air to read a street sign 30 miles away may have seemed like science fiction. But fiction has in many ways become fact, with drones becoming more popular with both private and commercial users.
Drone use by municipalities — police and fire agencies in particular — is also on the rise, increasing possibilities but also raising privacy concerns.
When members of the Summit and Portage County Metro SWAT drone team responded to a recent missing person call in Aurora, which is a Metro SWAT community, drones proved to be the difference between life and death for an 88-year-old resident. According to Aurora Police Department reports, the man escaped from a memory care unit at a senior living facility Nov. 19 and was found in a wooded ravine shortly after the drone team was called in.
“His body temperature was 80 when he was found — [almost] dead,” said Daniel Rafferty, a Copley Police Department officer and member of the four-person, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-licensed Metro SWAT drone team. “The drone’s [thermal imaging camera identified his] body heat signature and was able to save his life.”
Metro SWAT is made up of 23 police agencies in Summit and Portage counties, including the South Side News Leader communities of New Franklin and Springfield. The specialized drone unit consists of operators from the Copley, Richfield, Brimfield and Ravenna police departments.
The Metro SWAT drone team is overseen by Brimfield Police Department Capt. Chris Adkins, who said drones used by governmental agencies are essentially the same basic machine as those used by the public, but with price tags ranging from $5,000 to as much as $30,000. Equipment such as thermal imaging and high-definition cameras sets higher-end units apart and makes such models cost prohibitive for most private use, Adkins said.
“Some are basically little helicopters,” he added.
Adkins said some local communities have been able to pay for drones through grants and donations from outside organizations. Copley Police Department Chief Michael Mier said his department’s drone was made possible through a $9,000 donation from the Copley-Fairlawn Kiwanis Club, and the Bath Police Department paid for its two drones with special revenue funds and a Bath Community Fund grant, according to Bath Police Chief Vito Sinopoli.
Troy Gawlak, communications director for the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, which provides police service to Green and Coventry, said the agency does not currently own drones, but is considering the option.
Adkins said drones may be used in situations ranging from providing crash scene footage, to guiding firefighters during active fires, to aerial mapping for zoning departments.
Law enforcement officials noted that using a drone as a surveillance tool in non-emergency situations constitutes a search and therefore requires a warrant.
Drones do have practical limitations, however, Adkins said. Weather conditions such as rain and high wind, as well as limited battery life, can be the Achilles’ heel for most drones, though some higher-end models are waterproof. He noted that when a drone is sent up a second is often ready to be deployed as soon as batteries begin to run low on the first drone.
Adkins added drone deployment requires a multi-person team that includes a pilot and someone to relay information to other officers and firefighters in the field. He also said drone technology is poised to become more prevalent in use and more valuable in coming years.
“They are used for anything you used to need to fly a helicopter around for — crime scene photos, really bad crashes and working with fire departments to show the hot spots [during a structure fire],” he said.