Prosper Town Council approved a $150,000 contract with Flock Safety Inc. for a drone and accompanying software during a Nov. 26 meeting.
A way to understand what the drone will be used for is to imagine having an aerial visual of a car crash or an area named in a 911 call while first responders drive over, Daily said.
“Think about a major vehicle crash on US 380,” Daily said. “Sometimes we get calls from people who passed by accidents, and they don't have great information. They can't remember, they can't tell us which vehicles were involved or which lanes were blocked or if something's on fire. Sending an air asset out there... we can start to pipe that direct on-scene information to the video feed to our responding officers.”
The drone, specifically a Flock Safety Drone-as-First-Responder (DFR), is designed to act as another tool for first responders, Daily said.
“A kid walks off into the woods or into a field and we can't find them late at night, we can send the drone up and it can check a much wider area, much faster with the technology on it than a human asset can or faster canine asset,” Daily said.
Daily, who is the police department’s mentor for its technology projects and integrations, said the town already has a two-person drone team with plans to expand. Additional members will include Federal Aviation Administration license-carrying sworn officers and civilian department staff, Daily said.
Prosper already has a certificate of authorization from the FAA for drones but will be seeking a more specific waiver for the new drone, Daily said. Flock representatives will train police department staff on how to use the drone equipment as part of the agreement, according to meeting documents.
“Nobody gets to just walk in the door and start flying drones,” Daily said. “There's a process to do this to make sure that we use them rightly and appropriately, because it is a really effective tool. We want to make sure that we do it right.”
The details
The drone is equipped to “travel and arrive anywhere in the operational area within three minutes,” according to an informational statement from Flock Inc. included with the meeting documents.
“[The drone] is a really important emerging technology for us to work with, because it's a way for us to reduce our response time [and increase] our visibility, our situational awareness, and increase our officer safety on scene of both critical incidents and day to day calls,” Daily said.
Other drone features include:
- Live video feed
- 55-minute maximum flight time
- 54 mph maximum speed
- Thermal camera imaging, laser rangefinder and night vision
- Automatic flight log
A pilot will be in control any time the drone is in the air, Daily said.
Around 80% of the funding for the drone comes from grants, Daily said. Prosper officials accepted a $286,400 Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority grant in November, according to meeting documents.
Zooming out
The drone is not Prosper’s first piece of Flock Inc. equipment—a network of more than 50 Flock Inc. license plate cameras have been operating at intersections across the town since spring 2023.
The software used for the license plate cameras is the same for the drone and will tie into the existing system’s crime center platform, Daily said.
Something to keep in mind
Aside from training flights, the police drone will only be used for public safety purposes, Daily said. It will not be used for spying or infringing on the privacy of residents, he said.
“We don't need to see what's going on in people's backyards,” Daily said. “When it gets to the scene, then the drone operator can start to look for what's going on at that specific scene where that public safety purpose is.”
A new public technology transparency page will also log all of the drone’s flight paths and why it was sent out for residents to see why a drone flew over their house, Daily said.
Prosper Communications Director Todd Rice said there will be more information released to the public in the coming months to help educate residents on the new technology and transparency page.
Going forward
Daily said the drone should be delivered in early 2025 and, if the drone team is done training and there are no delays, will go on its first flight in February 2025.
Due to Prosper’s size, the police department only needs one to cover 90% of the town, he said, adding that they will eventually buy one or two more in the coming years.
