IFPD considering drone program to survey traffic incidents

IDAHO FALLS — The Idaho Falls Police Department is considering making aerial drones part of the investigative process at traffic incidents or during emergency situations.

“What that would give us is the ability to measure traffic situations and really get those accidents out of the way quickly rather than the number of hours that it takes to measure the scenes (by hand) and look at all the evidence,” IFPD spokeswoman Holly Cook said.

An official decision has not been made on whether to implement the unmanned aircraft system.

“They’re also really effective in missing persons, locating people that have run away or other threats to the community as well. There are a plethora of stories across the nation that are really success stories,” Cook said.

The department has been in contact with other agencies around the state to see how effective other programs have been. Cook said they are still learning about benefits and challenges of the program.

“We’re looking at all of the angles, looking at the cost and seeing how much benefit it will provide our taxpayers,” Cook said.

Cook said it’s been an interest in the department to have a drone program for seven years. David Barker, a logistics officer, has been instrumental in pushing the idea forward. He said a drone would be useful in day-to-day activities as far as documentation and reconstruction of 3D images of scenes. He said officers are now using Google Earth images, some of which aren’t up-to-date, to diagram traffic accidents.

“At the very minimum, we want to provide a more real-time image and documentation of what the scene was at the time,” Barker said.

Barker said this program could be up and running as quickly as this year, but department policies and procedures are currently being drafted for drone usage. He reminds the public that the drone would be used as a tool not for surveillance.

“It’s not something that we’re actively going to be out patrolling looking for violations with it,” Barker said.

Idaho Code 21-213 prevents law enforcement from surveying the public and flying a drone on a property without consent. However, Cook said the code wouldn’t stop them from effectively using drones during traffic incidents.

“We haven’t made a final decision on whether we’re going to implement our program or not, but the Idaho Code as it stands now won’t interfere with us doing that,” Cook said.