Heather Curtis
WMAL.com

(WASHINGTON) – Montgomery County’s police and fire departments are looking into using drones to respond to emergency situations.

“These will save lives. These will help us identify emergency situations in a faster and safer way,” Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein told the county’s public safety committee at a briefing Wednesday.

Goldstein said drones could help firefighters see more of a scene when there is a big fire like one that engulfed a series of townhomes in Prince George’s County Wednesday. Firefighters on the scene of fires are hampered by a limited perspective of what they can see from the ground Goldstein told the committee.

Police Chief Tom Manger said his department could use drones for many tasks including taking aerial pictures of crashes and crime scenes, searching for people with dementia and responding to dangerous emergencies, such as active shooter situations.

Manger said that currently if his department wants to take an aerial picture of a crash or crime scene it needs to get a helicopter from another agency. He argues that using drones to take aerial pictures would be less expensive and easier to get.

Council member Marc Elrich agreed that the fire and police departments could greatly benefit from using drones, but said the county would need to come up with a comprehensive policy that protects people’s civil liberties.

Manger said they are all aware of the concerns people have about drones, but, given their benefits, his department wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize its program by using them in a way that makes people uncomfortable.

There were also questions about whether the FAA would allow drones to be flown in the county. The police department’s Ed Daniel said while most of the county is a no-fly zone, the Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda was able to form an agreement with the FAA to use drones as part of rehabilitation programs for service members.

In terms of cost, the county’s looking at drones with price tags between $1,000 and $10,000. Manger said the county would need a number of different types of drones for different tasks.

Dr. Earl Stoddard with the county’s office of emergency management said the first several years of the program would largely be paid for with federal grant money.

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