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FAA airspace restrictions force CCSO to nix unmanned surveillance aerials
Private aircraft experts say unmanned aerial vehicles don't yet have the technology yet to completely replaced manned vehicles for law enforcement agencies.
By Danny Gallagher, McKinney Courier-Gazette
The Collin County Sheriff's Office's plans to fly unmanned aerial vehicles over the county for air surveillance were grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Lt. John Norton of the Collin County Sheriff's Office said department officials submitted a request to the court to permission to apply for the 2010 Federal Stimulus Justice Assistance Competitive Grant administered by the North Texas Council of Governments.
The CCSO planned to use an undetermined amount of the federal funding to purchase the devices to use as air surveillance during emergencies or calls where helicopters flown in by the Texas Department of Public Safety or the Dallas Police Department, Norton said.
"We would have used the drones just like we would a helicopter," Norton said. "There are several instances with missing persons or boaters or a criminal suspect is on the ground and we have called the DPS or DPD [for help] several times over the years. This would have just made things a little easier to maintain with that air surveillance in these particular circumstances."
Those plans had to be withdrawn when the CCSO learned that the FAA's airspace restrictions would make it very hard to use an unmanned aerial device or vehicle in those situations, Norton said.
Chris Dancy, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association headquartered in Frederick, Ma., said he isn't aware of any police agencies or sheriff's department who have fully implemented the technology because of the same problem.
He said the vehicles have to be under a constant monitor while they are in the air and don't have the technology to sense other objects in their airspace.
"All (unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs) all lack sense and avoid capability," Dancy said. "A lot of work is being done on that in the aviation industry and our association is working on ways to safely integrate UAVs into airspace so they can share the same space with manned aircraft safely. We're not oppose UAVs. We're just not able to operate them safely in the same airspace with manned aircraft."
New advancements in technology has made UAVs smaller and more economical, but even something as small as a bird can cause problems, Dancy said.
"What a lot of law enforcement agencies have been looking at are fairly small lightweight UAV systems that would operate in relatively low altitudes," Dancy said. "The problem is if you've ever seen the affects of a bird strike on a small or large aircraft and when you have objects moving at such fairly high speeds, it doesn't take lot to cause significant damage to any type aircraft."
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Yeahright wrote on Jun 26, 2009 4:01 PM:
" Box you say, well Sherriff Terry Box is the numbskull you are seeking....They want to invade your privacy, tell you what to drive, wear, how to act, where to live, where to go, who to be friends with, etc. The Sherriff's office and Judicial system here in Collin County only cares about your money, nothing more.... "
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WHAT NUMBSKULL EVEN ALLOWED THIS HUGE WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONIES TO EVEN GET OUT OF THE BOX?
THIS IS NUTS AND A GOOD EXAMPLE OF WHAT'S WRONG WITH OUR AREAS' LE. "