Santa Monica Sends Drones Before Police to Many 911 Calls

When someone calls 911 in the California beach town of Santa Monica, a police drone is often on scene before any officers arrive.

“It’s a fundamental change in the way that we can bring policing services to our city,” Peter Lashley, a Santa Monica Police Department drone pilot and longtime officer, told NBC News.

A drone can sometimes respond to a call within seconds and its high-powered camera can capture footage key to investigations. In Santa Monica, a police-manned drone captured a violent robbery in progress, leading to an arrest and conviction, the outlet reports. 

Lashley says the city’s “drones as first responder” program has been well-received by residents and area lawmakers, despite skepticism police might use the technology to abuse their surveilling powers.

“We respond to 911 calls for service,” Lashley told NBC. “We don’t randomly fly over the city looking for people doing anything wrong.

“This technology is in its infancy,” he said. “It is developing. It’s such a game changer. … For us, breaking the faith, using it irresponsibly — any benefit that we would get will never outweigh the benefits that it gives us.”

The program first launched in Chula Vista, Calif.

Since then, it’s slowly made its way north of the coastal city and police in Beverly Hills and Redondo Beach have implemented the practice as well.

According to NBC, about a dozen more departments across the nation have also adopted the policing tactic.  

Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union says the organization supports the use of drones in emergency situations.

Stanley told the outlet, “Our position is it’s legitimate for police departments to use drones to find a lost kid in the woods, for raids, accidents, crime scenes.”