Officials in Fairfax County, Virginia, have put plans on hold to purchase a batch of new drones, about $3,500 each, that would've gone to first response services in the region.
Government officials there insist that they are looking for more public input on the decision because of the privacy concerns that are involved with adopting drones in the community fora myriad of emergency service needs.
The Board of Supervisors that was supposed to approve the new drone policy manual, that would've endorsed the purchase of several drones, voted instead to defer the adoption of the manual and drone purchase. The policy regarding the use of drones for fire, police, and emergency services, in the Fairfax county region, was only allegedly unveiled just recently (last week) and the board reportedly didn't have adequate time to review it before they were expected to approve the changes.
It's likely that they might revisit the issue within a few months, which hopefully will be enough time for more community members to voice their concerns about whether they are in favor of the program adoption or not.
Officials have suggested having further discussions with various organizations on the potential changes, such as home owners' associations, privacy groups, and potential parties.
“It’s already the law that if there is a legal and proper police stop or surveillance and then you see something, that you can usually use what you see to do further action. We turn a camera on as it flies over somebody’s backyard and it picks up something, that picture’s probably going to be enough for a judge to issue a warrant and then the police can go into somebody’s house, and so this is serious,” said Public Safety Committee Chairman, John Cook
After the new drone policies do get approved, the county will then allegedly be looking to apply for FAA authority so that they can operate their drone program.
Once approved, the new drones would act as an additional tool for emergency response teams that could help them to conduct search and rescue, survey crash sites, survey disaster sites or fires, engage in infrastructure assessment, and much more.
Pics:
Pixabay
