Fort Collins PD and Fire to Use Drones As First Responders

More than 1500 police departments across the United States are already dispatching drones as first responders to the scene of 911 calls, and another Colorado city is joining the list: Fort Collins.

I think this is one of the smartest ways to use technology as an advantage, as opposed to just buzzing around a park or lake, disrupting your peaceful sunset views in the evening. You know what I mean... when you're taking in the sights and hear what seems to be a distance mosquito in your ears, then look up to see red and green flashing lights 30 feet over your head?

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The City of Fort Collins last month announced the creation of the "Drone As A City Resource" program, which will be utilized by the Fort Collins Police Department, Poudre Fire Authority and Fort Collins utilities as well.

In a nutshell, when a 911 call is made, if the dispatcher wants to get a look at what's happening on the scene before sending police or fire, they can send a drone to get a bird's eye view of what's happening and give officers and other responders better information about what they're going to be walking into.

READ MORE: First Colorado City To Launch 'Drone As First Responder' Program

Not only does the program make responding to calls safer for first responders, but it also can reduce the number of unneccesary emergency responses. How many times do you see a fire truck or police car flying down the road with lights and sirens, only to slow down and turn them off as if to say "never mind, false alarm."

Those instances could be reduced by a program like this.

Fort Collins Utilities can also use the drones to check on emergency power situations, downed power lines and other monitoring during events, outages or just following up on work done in the field.

All in all, the program seems like a pretty solid use of technology. For more information, you can check out more info from the City of Fort Collins.