TOLEDO, Ohio — No longer a novelty, drones are becoming an everyday tool for more police and fire departments, new research has found. The number of public safety agencies with drones has more than doubled since the end of 2016, according to data collected by the Center for the Study of the Drone at New York’s Bard College. The centre estimated that just over 900 police, sheriff, fire and emergency agencies now have drones, with Texas, California, and Wisconsin leading the way, the study showed. While many law enforcement drone units are just getting started and are in place in just a fraction of the public safety agencies around the country, police and fire departments are continuing to find new uses for the remote-controlled aircraft. “Every agency will have these teams in the future.”Most public safety agencies with drones have just one, said Dan Gettinger, co-director of the drone research centre.

Source: National Post May 28, 2018 14:26 UTC