New drone program launched by NYPD and mayor's office

If there is a child on a ledge in an apartment building somewhere, and the police officers are responding, it takes a period of time for them to know what exact ledge they're on and what apartment they're located in, when the call comes over. What if a drone could get there within seconds? Identify exactly what ledge that child is on, identify what apartment is associated with that ledge, and they're able to get there with precision, purpose, focus, and not have to guess when they get to the location?

Well, you don't have to imagine. That is exactly what happened on Oct. 12th.

A child is safe today because of a new program called, Drone as First Responder or DFR. So, today we are announcing that New York City is flying into the future to keep New Yorkers safe. There's been a lot of buzz, so let me be clear: drones are proven technology, and as I explained, the benefits are not theoretical. They are clearly part of our law enforcement apparatus now. 

Last April, we saw it in action when we deployed drones to keep New Yorkers safe after a parking garage collapsed in lower Manhattan. Both NYPD and FDNY were able to execute their search operation without putting and placing members of our first responders in danger, by having to send in humans first. We were able to send the drones in and they have played an important role in our efforts to keep New Yorkers safe during protests. Drones have been able to allow us to see the movement and to police from the sky, enhancing our efforts to patrol beaches for sharks and being able to identify when sharks are near the beachfront. 

These are only two of the 76 search and rescue missions our drone pilots have flown, but their true potential has just taken off, and we're really excited about the announcement we're making today. We're paving the way for drones to keep New Yorkers and our first responders safe with our Drone as First Responder, program. This program will leverage the latest drone technology to enhance the NYPD's emergency response capabilities and keep our city safe. 

The DFR program will deploy drones to assist with public safety calls, including searches for missing people, alerts from shot spotters, gunshot detection systems, robberies and grand larcenies, and other crimes in progress. These drones will help the NYPD respond and serve New Yorkers more efficiently, help protect our streets and keep everyone safe. The DFR program is now operational in five commands in three boroughs, including the 6th, 7th, 71st, and 75th precincts in Brooklyn, the 48th precinct in the Bronx, and now in the Central Park precinct in Manhattan.

The DFR program works by deploying drones remotely to the exact longitude and latitude of where an emergency comes from, reducing response times, in some instances, to less than a minute. These drones are remotely controlled by trained NYPD personnel who see a live feed, enabling them to make initial scene assessments, taking the guesswork out of responding officers. They're making that assessment and quickly broadcast over police radios detailed descriptions of suspects or what is taking place on the ground and provide additional information to responding officers. 

These drones will mean more efficient policing and will help increase our ability to make arrests before suspects flee or to bring a condition under control. Most importantly, they will help increase the safety of the responding officers. It alleviates, if not eradicates, those responding officers walking into a surprise situation. And I want to be clear, this is technology we're going to use and not abuse.

That is why in May of last year, we convened a drone forum in Flushing Meadows where I asked every city agency to dream big about the way drones can be used with their mission of serving New Yorkers, everything from inspecting buildings to inspecting bridges, to looking at damage after the earthquake that took place. It immediately allowed our drones to do first visual inspections. 

The author of this letter is the mayor of NYC