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City officials should understand that FAA's rules allow for most areas to be open and drones may be flying in closer proximity to buildings, homes and people that the public may expect.

Mithril Defense and Texas Legislators Push for UAVs with Pepper Spray to Enhance School Safety Amid Funding Challenges

Drone as First Responder (DFR) system, which is meant to capture data on the origin location of an incident and inform police forces, fire brigades, or rescue organizations going out to the site.

Texas public schools could be guarded by drones armed with pepper spray or Tasers under a new bill filed in the Texas Legislature meant to beef up school security. The measure would boost funding for safety upgrades and let schools deploy drones in place of the armed guards that lawmakers required on every campus in response to the Uvalde school shooting.

ARISE is the latest advancement in autonomous drone swarm technology that will benefit emergency services in Tulsa and beyond. ARISE utilizes artificial intelligence to enhance drone team capabilities for emergency response scenarios. Multiple drones autonomously coordinate and use real-time data integration to analyze the scene and relay information.

Drones Prove Effective for Rapid, Real-Time Response in Urban Settings

the need to equip first responders with counter drone technology, training, and authority. 

With the growing number of incidents involving drone flying where and when they shouldn't, local law enforcement agencies and drone security companies are lobbying Congress to pass legislation that would extend the authority to conduct counter-drone measures – currently held by a handful of select federal agencies – to local-level police officials.

In the years since Hurricane Sandy, the city has upgraded its disaster response efforts with the help of drones, which can warn people in low-lying areas of imminent flooding risk, breach storm-damaged buildings to help rescue survivors and conduct post-storm aerial surveys to help assess the extent of the damage.

Leveraging BVLOS and Advanced Imaging, UAS Crews Aid in Damage Assessment and Resource Allocation Across 500 Miles of Affected Roads

Volunteers use heavy-lift drones to bring life-saving supplies to isolated communities in North Carolina's mountainous region after roads are destroyed by the storm.

Commercial UAV News publishes regular reports on the use of drones in the public safety sector.

Harnessing AI and Unmanned Aerial Fleets to Predict, Detect, and Combat Wildfires Across the Globe

The Woodlands, Texas, a master-planned suburban development about 30 miles north of Houston, is joining the growing list of communities that are coming under the watchful eye of police agencies' drones-as-first-responders programs.

Drones equipped with advanced cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) can provide firefighters with valuable time to respond quickly.

Their task was to assist in the search for Earhart's aircraft using drone-mounted magnetometers in the challenging environment of Papua New Guinea's New Britain island.

Windracers' AI-Powered Ultra UAVs Show Promise in Early Detection and Rapid Response to Wildfires.

Partnership Aims to Eliminate the Need for Visual Observers in Emergency Drone Deployments

Highly maneuverable drones with less-than-lethal concussion devices offer a new and indirect way to stun individuals.

At the DRONERESPONDERS Georgia Public Safety Drone Summit, a session addressed the growing concern of unauthorized or rogue drones. The discussion centered on what law enforcement agencies can do when faced with community complaints about drones involved in illegal activitie

The fire department of the small city of Magnolia, Texas has put its UAV to work to deal with a number of floods and wildfires

create a framework for integrating AAM into missions related to law enforcement, fire rescue, emergency management, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief (HA/DR).

Specialized UAS for Disaster Response workshops train remote pilots to help assess damage and restore community lifeline services following a major storm impact.

State Report Reveals Dramatic Increase in Drone Flights Despite Modest Budget Growth

providing officers with comprehensive information from 911 calls through HigherGround's Live911 software alongside live video feeds from BRINC's Drone as First Responder (DFR) solution."

Letter to Law Enforcemnt Drone Association Membership regarding DJI ban legislation

While the author examined data for the state of Texas, the data reflects trends found throughout the country.

Letter to Senate Armed Services Committee highlights severe impact on public safety operations

From the Energy Drone and Robotics Summit in Houston and the DRONERESPONDERS co-located event, FAA experts were on hand to discuss the current environment in public safety, and what's coming for first responder drone programs.

Innovative 2-Year Research Agreement Utilizes Meteodrones to Improve Atmospheric Data Collection and Forecast Accuracy

New legislative proposal in the U.S. Congress, known as the Drones for First Responders (DFR) Act, is poised to strike a careful balance between enhancing national security and supporting domestic drone manufacturing.

Australian drone operator Ninox Robotics recently announced a joint operation with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service to fly long-range drones for surveillance of bush and grass fires

This year, over 600 public safety and related industry professionals convened at the second annual National Public Safety UAS Conference, in Williamsburg, Virginia. These are the top 5 key takeaways from the event.

A panel of FAA representative provide updates and insights for public safety and law enforcement drone community with updates on the B4UFly app, remote ID, and  along with fielded questions from the audience.

Use of counter UAS technologies to keep unauthorized drones out of sensitive airspace, including the space over prisons where incursions are becoming more frequent.

As both state and federal officials try to limit, if not outright ban, the use of Chinese-made drones by public service agencies, police departments and sheriff's offices in Texas have taken steps to ensure that those UAVs in their fleets do not present the security threat that ban advocates fear.

"the prospect of using robotics and related systems in place of human intelligence to perform tasks and solve problems is seen by many as key to increasing efficiency, enhancing safety, and delivering exceptional return on investment in a broad range of commercial operations."

News reports from across the US and around the world point to an increase in the use of drones and related systems in public safety and law enforcement. In large cities and small towns alike, uncrewed systems are being put to work in countless ways that make citizens safer and supply more and better tools for law enforcement officials. 

While we've explored what it means to build a drone program, success with doing so always depends on the approach and industry. Those distinctions are especially evident in the public safety sector, where success isn't just about a given task or project, but also about policy, process and the general public.

The AR5 drone, equipped with optical and infrared cameras, a maritime radar, an AIS receiver, and an emergency position-indicating radio beacon antenna, showcased its ability to deploy a lifeboat for up to eight people with high precision.

The new Commercial UAV News guide, "Building Your Drone Program: Defining Your Scope, Choosing the Right Systems, Workforce Development, and More," can help.

The Role of Drone Technology in Crisis Management and its Impact on Communities

California Appellate Court's Decision Impacts Public Access to Police Drone Footage

Jump Aero, a California-based aircraft manufacturer, has partnered with the Oregon Department of Aviation to explore the integration of their JA1 Pulse Aircraft into the fabric of Oregon's emergency response ecosystem. The recently inked Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) marks a collaborative effort to redefine emergency medical services in rural Oregon, harnessing the speed and sustainability of the JA1 Pulse Aircraft.

Jump Aero and the Oregon Department of Aviation are looking to determine how to bring the emergency response aircraft to the rural population

uAvionix, operating at the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) Emerging Aviation Technology Center, has completed the first true Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flight in non-segregated airspace using aviation protected C-Band in the United States.

In a collaboration that merges ADS-B aviation technology with advances in public service through aviation, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and uAvionix Corporation have entered a partnership that brings a dual band Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) receiver network to the National Radar (NRAT) mission. This initiative aims to dramatically reduce response times in search and rescue operations, potentially saving lives in critical situations.

The North Carolina Wing has been at the forefront of the Civil Air Patrol small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) program that culminated in the first locate and save within CAP in August of 2021. On May 6th, the program introduced an increase in training and equipment at the NCWG headquarters.

NASA's Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project is utilizing drones and advanced aviation technologies to enhance wildland fire coordination and operations. Drones can extend the window for aerial suppression, allowing for safer and more effective firefighting. ACERO is developing airspace management technologies to share information between crewed aircraft, drone operators, and ground crews during wildfires, improving situational awareness and reducing safety risks

Drones are widely recognized as an indispensible tool in firefighting.  Now, researchers from George Mason University are working on a drone and wearable sensor solution that can locate each firefighter working in a burning building – and notify their team if they're in trouble.