CHICAGO (WLS) — Drones are fast becoming the must-have tool in policing.
A new wave of technology is emerging in the Chicago area, with drones independently responding to 911 calls and an experimental system aimed at thwarting potential mass shooters, as reported by the ABC7 I-Team.
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In Oak Brook, a suburb, the local police department utilizes drones that are operated by officers. According to Oak Brook Police Chief Brian Strockis, these drones have proven to be highly effective, particularly when tracking down criminal suspects.
Recently, the department assisted state police in searching for an individual fleeing a vehicle linked to a shooting. The drone’s thermal imaging was crucial in locating and identifying the individual involved.
Now, the department is going to the next level with a drone as a first responder.
“What makes it special is that it flies autonomously,” explained Strockis. “It’s not operated by someone traditionally holding a joystick. It’s able to deploy itself.”
The drone, made by Flock Safety, uses AI technology that connects the command center and deploys on its own from a roof to specific 911 calls.
“Getting eyes on the ground prior to officers arrival that’s going to be huge,” Strockis said.
READ MORE | ‘Eyes in the sky’: Rise in drone use by Chicago-area law enforcement improving safety, surveillance
In north suburban Libertyville, several former Navy Seals and a business entrepreneur are working on the next aerial technological evolution. It’s an indoor drone designed to detect and potentially stop a mass shooting on its own, before police arrive on the scene.
“The drone is looking for a threat who is carrying a weapon,” explained Jeff Ross, the CEO of Brecourt Solutions.
Members of the company demonstrated their experimental Close Quarter Drone for the I-Team.
Equipping drones with firearms is illegal in the United States, so the system is designed to track the threat and then neutralize the weapon instead of the shooter, making it safer for bystanders.
“We don’t require GPS it uses its vision to in order to fly autonomously,” Ross said. Once the threat is detected now it can begin tracking, begin following that individual providing real time information to the first responders or any security the scene so they know what they are going up against.”
The inventors do not want to reveal the trade secrets but explained that the drone can also lock in on a weapon and then strike the side of it, dispensing an adhesive substance that essentially jams the firearm’s inner-workings.
“It disrupts the bulk carrier group of AR style rifles, semi-automatic pistols, pump action, semi-automatic shotguns and those are 95% of the weapons utilized in an active shooter situation,” Ross said.
The concept is for the drone system to be housed throughout a building with the devices dropping down from the ceiling when trouble is detected. The inventors compare the prototype to a sprinkler system that is able to extinguish a fire before it rages out of control.
“We pre-preposition sprinkler systems that respond autonomously. Why don’t we have the modern day sprinkler system to active shooters in mass shootings? So that’s what we are developing,” Ross said.
The Close Quarter Drone system is now being integrated with other security companies and is expected to begin pilot testing this summer. For now, the cost is estimated at $30,000, but that could change depending on what is needed to make it operational with current security systems in buildings.
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