Stafford County Sheriff’s Office Seeking Authorization to Use UAS
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office will seek to obtain a Certificate of Authorization (COA) for a public agency from the Federal Aviation Administration, after receiving permission from the Stafford Board of Supervisors.
If the Sheriff’s Office is granted the COA, it will be allowed to use UAS during whatever operations it deems necessary to use.
“We plan to use UAS for a number of things including search and rescue; Amber, Senior and Blue Alerts; training programs; damage assessment; traffic assessment; crime scene documentation; and execution of search warrants,” said Sheriff David Decatur via Fredericksburg.com.
In order to receive authorization to fly UAS, the Sheriff’s Office has to not only go through the COA’s 90-day application process, but it also needs to get a letter from the county attorney proclaiming the Sheriff’s Office as a public entity.
Upon receiving the COA, the Sheriff’s Office would be qualified to self-certify pilots, as well as provide the 40-hour course that encompasses both classroom and hands-on instruction. The Sheriff’s Office would like to begin training immediately, with the goal of putting UAS in the air as early as spring 2017.
Before applying for the COA, the Sheriff’s Office was required to own or lease at least one UAS, so they purchased a DJI UAS. In total, the Sheriff’s Office hopes to have three UAS; one to use for training, and two that are operational in the field.
If everything goes the way that the Sheriff’s Office wants, Decatur plans on being open with the public, to keep its trust and make sure that people are comfortable with this new technology.
“We want to be as transparent as we can be,” Decatur said. He added that the Sheriff’s Office would hold a public demonstration to showcase the technology, and give people a chance to express any qualms about the systems and their purposes.
