Atherton is one of the first Bay Area cities to add a drone to its police force, which can fly out and gather real-time information during burglaries, and be used when people are missing, for disaster response, traffic accidents, active shooter situations and more.
The 21-officer department signed a three-year lease to use the small, remotely operated Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) from the Houston-based startup Paladin, which works with police and fire departments. Atherton began using the drone in March, training staffers not to fly the drones but to monitor the flights and equipment.
Atherton found out about the drones from Flock, its automated license plate reader provider, said Police Chief Steve McCulley.
"What's unique about it is, especially for an agency of our size, we don't have the ability to have drone pilots," McCulley said. "It provides critical intelligence. Is someone fleeing across the street? It's a deterrent to crime and for the safety of officers and residents.
The Menlo Park Fire Protection District has used drones for a number of years, to capture footage of wildfire damage or to check how a fire is spreading.
Paladin is working with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office in Dublin on a trial basis. Atherton is the first city in the area to become a client, according to Paladin CEO Divy Shrivastava. The mix of clients and cities testing the drones on a trial-basis will be announced soon, he said.
Shrivastava said Atherton's police force is the first that didn't have an established drone program to adapt a Paladin drone.
"Atherton was fresh and trusted us to take them from zero to one," he said.
How the drones work
Atherton's drone uses a cellular LTE connection, which allows it to reach a 3-mile radius limit.
The 3-mile radius covers all areas within the town limits of Atherton when the drone is deployed from the Town Center at 80 Fair Oaks Lane.
The drone has a 55-minute battery life, which the department said is ample time to gather video footage for most incidents and emergency situations.
To protect the privacy of individuals, operators are prohibited from intentionally recording or transmitting images of any location where a person would reasonably expect privacy, like a home or a yard.
For questions about the drone program, contact Cmdr. Dan Larsen at dlarsen@ci.atherton.ca.us.
For more information on Paladin, go to paladindrones.io.
Comments
Registered user
Menlo Park: other
on Jul 21, 2023 at 12:29 pm
Registered user
on Jul 21, 2023 at 12:29 pm
So, let me get this straight. The City of Atherton which created a local ordinance years ago prohibiting drone use in the city (even though that is not legal according to the FAA) is going to deploy a drone operated by a Texas company. And the operators are not supposed to record anything that might be a private space. How is that going to work? Most of the city is private land and it's unlikely that the recorded field of view will avoid it while traversing streets.
I'm not actually opposed to the idea. In fact drones are a reasonable tool if used correctly. But here are the issues:
1) APD has no drone operators. So this means the drones are being operated remotely. Who is responsible if the connection is lost? Under what jurisdiction is the operator? CA or TX? Privacy laws are quite different between the two.
2) The focus on the images captured should not be what is shown. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy when outdoors. Even on private property behind a fence, the expectation should be limited as planes and helicopters can and do fly over all the time (not to mention satellites) So the goal of avoiding this capture is pointless. Instead, focus on use and retention policies. In my opinion there should be NO retention of any of the video past a short deadline (no more than a month) unless the footage has been recorded as part of evidence for a criminal case or a publicly documented retention request (say someone who feels they were mistreated in the event and wants to review) ALL the rest should be purged. Not shared with other agencies. Not kept just in case. We must demand that our government data collectors stop keeping and sharing it
3) Repeal the anti drone ordinance. It was always pointless and stupid. But now it is cynical that private citizens are banned but the police can do it anyway.
Registered user
Menlo Park: other
on Jul 27, 2023 at 1:47 am
Registered user
on Jul 27, 2023 at 1:47 am
As TR wrote, this is a rather two-faced solution. Restriction of civilians, but additional powers of the police, what's next? As I read about it in an article here, it won't lead to anything good.
Registered user
Atherton: other
on Jul 27, 2023 at 10:35 am
Registered user
on Jul 27, 2023 at 10:35 am
The Atherton PD is experimenting with drones (with privacy implications for residents) and wellness counselors, and has lost track of the bread and butter of why Atherton has decided to have its own police department.
By the chief's admission, they won't pursue criminals who commit crimes here (*).
We have a $50M town center to house them when they should be on the streets patrolling the neighborhoods.
The council needs to set clear expectations for what we should be receiving for these very expensive police services. It is by far the largest part of our budget.
The drones won't change anything. But changing the attitude of how we manage this department and our expectations will.
(*) To be accurate, the chief has said he won't authorize either vehicular or foot pursuits of non-violent criminals because of the risk to pedestrian and officer (!) safety, but 100% or thereabouts of the crime in Atherton is non-violent.