Local law enforcement agencies are conducting training exercises along Milwaukee’s lakefront while using an increasingly popular tool.
The training is part of regular sessions by the Wisconsin Drone Network, an organization consisting of drone programs for law enforcement, fire, emergency management and other public safety agencies across the state.
“These [drones] can not only be public safety issues, but we can use drones in a major event like Summerfest,” said Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper John Jones. “We can monitor crowd size, traffic, any of those things. When we respond to an incident, hopefully we can draw back on these experiences and say we’ve done this before.”
The Wisconsin Drone Network’s role is to coordinate emergency requests for aerial support with 110 trained and FAA-licensed drone pilots, representing 50 emergency response agencies across the state.
“They’ve become a fantastic tool,” Trooper Jones told WTMJ. “As the technology continues to grow, the equipment becomes more sophisticated, more reliable, and our flight times are extended, we’re seeing more and more applications for those.”
Agencies practiced three training scenarios: locating a missing swimmer, a drowning victim and a missing/wanted watercraft.
