The process of searching for suspicious devices, suspects and missing persons is about to soar sky-high in Duluth, Ga.
Drones will soon be part of the Duluth Police Department, and officers will start training to use the drones on Wednesday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday.
The use of the drones was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, making Duluth the second police department in Gwinnett County to use the devices. The Gwinnett County Police Department was approved to use drones in August 2016, according to the Journal-Constitution.
Georgia is not the only state where police departments are looking to implement drones into official police business. Several departments from Ohio to Texas to Washington are also looking for the FAA’s approval.
The Sahuarita Police Department in Arizona was recently approved by the FAA and plan to use their drones to investigate serious car accidents, among other police activities, according to the Sahuarita Sun.
Drones used by law enforcement is nothing new, but public sentiment about it remains mixed due to the fear that drones will impede on people’s privacy, sUAS News reported. Yet the success of drones in areas such as traffic and fire investigations and forensics already have proven their usefulness, according to sUAS News.
Drones are not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, this is only the beginning, not only in law enforcement, but in areas like commercial use, first responders, the military and fire departments, as well.