Police in Colorado town of Castle Rock launch drones as first responder program, to "be the eyes for the officers"

It's an innovation Castle Rock Police say will be game changing for the safety of their community -- drones as first responders. While CRPD is not the first department in the state to implement the technology, they are the first to be able to fly the drone as high as 400 feet.

The program costs the department $200,000 a year. They launched it in August and have a three-year contract. The drone can respond anywhere in Castle Rock in an average of 85 seconds, according to Flock Safety.

"This is the technology we used to use to record the radio traffic. Back then we actually would have to change out these reels every single day," said Castle Rock Police Chief Jack Cauley, while holding an old reel.

Technology has come a long way since Cauley started his law enforcement career in the 1980s.

"This was state-of-the-art technology. The VHS tapes were what we used in our in-car cameras," Cauley said, holding up a VHS tape.

By 2021, the department had implemented a drone program and Flock license plate readers, which Cauley says led to a 40% decrease in auto thefts over the next two years.

"It's so important for us to be at the forefront of technology, to partner with private sector and be out there and drive technology so that we can continue to help our officers keep our community safe," Cauley said.

Now, they want to take that technology to the next level through Flock's drone as first responder program.

"No longer will an officer have to respond to the call, get out of the car and then deploy the drone at that location," Cauley said. "The whole idea of the drones as first responders is to be the eyes for the police officers and make sure that they we can see what's going on around them and that we can keep them safe."

"We're going to simulate a test call at the local high school here in Castle Rock. The drone hands-free will fly 100% to that location," said Todd Brown, drone pilot and commander at Castle Rock police. "While responding, the drone is still flying autonomously. I can then start actively watching and surveilling the scene. I'm choosing to now manually control just the camera on that drone."

The legacy drone program is not going anywhere, Cauley says the Drone as First Responder program enhances the old program, because it does not require the drone pilot to go to the scene to deploy. The drone for this new program is stationed in an automated dock and can be deployed at a moment's notice by an officer at the department's Real Time Crime Center if a Flock camera spots a stolen vehicle's license plate or if there's another call for service.

"The officer could now be receiving the call at this location, driving there and start streaming what I'm seeing already on scene. So it really is a virtual first responder," Brown said.

Cauley says the technology can be used for anything from a missing person to a car crash to a swatting situation or even a retail crime.

"If it's a crime we're being called to or even if it's not a crime, it's something that we need to get to check it out. Then the drones as first responders is able to get there in a very, very short amount of time, before the police officers usually, and then provide them information on what's happening out there," Cauley said.

Preventing crime is the goal.

"When you do your detection and your response really well, you start getting to deterrence," said Keith Kauffman, senior director of DFR strategy for Flock Safety.

The Flock system has been criticized for creating a mass surveillance infrastructure and led to questions about who can access that data.

Chief Cauley says every drone flight is recorded and the department protects the Flock data like they do with other sensitive information.

"You have to have the policies in place and the guardrails in place, and you have to have a culture that's not going to allow that," Cauley said.

Cauley says they would share the data with other departments if requested as part of a criminal investigation and may fly the drone for local and federal agencies on a case-by-case basis.

"If they need help and they're asking for it, and we could send a car, send a car. If we can send drone, we'll send a drone. We want to make sure everybody's safe, whether it's a law enforcement officer or a resident of our community," Cauley said.

Castle Rock Police Department has launched a transparency portal for the drone as a first responder program. You can find the link at community.castle-rock.co.us.aerodome.com.