Stratford Police Service to purchase two drones to assist in emergencies

Thanks to a provincial grant, the Stratford Police Service will soon purchase two drones for use by trained officers and potentially other local first responders in emergencies.

As a member police force of the province’s Hate Crime and Extremism Investigative Team, a network of police services that co-ordinates intelligence gathering and provides specialized support on investigations into hate-motivated crimes, the Stratford Police Service has secured $3,500 in funding for the purchase of the drones, Gerry Foster, the department’s deputy chief, told the Beacon Herald.

While the official purpose for the drones will be to use them to further the goals of Hate Crime and Extremism Investigative Team, Foster said the drones will be useful to police in any number of emergency situations.

“The experience for us, obviously, will be new, but many of our policing partners have drone and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) technology already,” Foster said. “What we’ve learned from our policing partners is that drones have a place in areas of policing such as search and rescue.

“So if we’re looking for a lost child or a lost adult or someone who’s otherwise missing, a drone can be deployed to greatly reduce the search time. … Last year, we had a gentleman escape from the facility at the Stratford General Hospital and then took off on foot. We think he went through the (TJ Dolan Natural Area) and then made his way up towards (Perth) Line 42. We had spent enormous amounts of time and had all kinds of officers involved in that search. We literally just happened upon him, but had we had a drone up, we probably could have reduced that search time significantly.”

Another example of where drones may come in handy is with disaster response. By having the ability to quickly deploy a drone at the onset of a natural disaster like a flood, Foster said police and other emergency services can understand where the most imminent danger is and who might be in need of immediate assistance before deploying officers and other emergency staff on the ground.

Foster said drones can also be used while investigating motor-vehicle collisions. By giving investigators the ability to shoot photos from the air, Foster said they will be able to better understand the big picture of a given collision, and will likely be able to complete their investigation and reopen any closed roads sooner.

Though the drones that are to be purchased by the Stratford department won’t be equipped with advanced imaging technology, like FLIR thermal and infrared cameras, Foster said there will be future opportunity to consider adding those technologies if the drones prove useful.

“I expect this will be a good launch platform – pun intended – for us to maybe expand the program to more robust technology if it works out for us,” he said.

Once the police service has the drones, Foster said officers will begin training to use them and the police service may offer that training to other emergency services like the Stratford and St. Marys fire departments.

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