Los Altos is getting a pair of remotely-operated police drones that can collect information before officers arrive on a scene.
Council voted unanimously Nov. 18 to approve a five-year, $570,000 contract with Axon Enterprise to use its “drone as first responder” program.
Los Altos police will get two drones, which each come with a docking station, along with training and access to Axon’s video storage system.
The city considered other companies but selected Axon, which it already uses for police body cameras, due to its high marks for cybersecurity. Another popular drone supplier, Flock Safety, was recently in the news for sharing license plate data with ICE. During public comment, Brian Jones of Los Altos for Representation and Equity said Axon’s reputation helped calm his concerns about the program.
“We feel very much more comfortable with this system than some of the other vendors that we’ve seen,” Jones said.
Councilman Jonathan Weinberg said the comment eased some of his own concerns.
Cybersecurity risk management platform UpGuard gives Axon’s video storage system, Evidence. com, a 924 out of 950 on its rating system, Capt. Katie Krauss said, and ratings over 850 are rare.
“They are not in the news, which is fantastic,” Krauss said.
Councilmembers Neysa Fligor, Larry Lang, Weinberg and resident Jeanine Valadez all expressed concern over the risk of collisions, especially since the space above crime or crash scenes will occasionally also have a helicopter or news drone.
Skydio account executive Chris Morton said the drones rely on operators to avoid other objects but that the company is trying to implement a radar system.
Mayor Pete Dailey said he wasn’t concerned about potentially crowded airspace before calling for a vote on the contract.
“Since the Wright brothers flew 100 years ago, I think we probably have people who are on top of that stuff,” Dailey said.
Krauss estimated the department will use the new drones between five and 10 times a day, often for everyday tasks like scanning the scene of a car accident for injuries.
The drones can reach 45 mph and carry 40 minutes of charge.
Krauss said police plan to station one of the drones on top of the city’s community center but haven’t decided where to put the second one. She expects it will take two to three months before they’re installed and in use. Council also approved changes to the department’s drone policy. Officers are now allowed to use a drone to survey the scene before a high-risk search or arrest — previous policy only allowed drones to help with during operation.
The city already has a pair of police drones but they can’t be operated remotely. Krauss said the department plans to keep the drones it already has since they can be swapped in once officers arrive on the scene if battery is running low on the new drones.
The other new provision lets officers use their judgment to deploy a drone whenever they think it would “enhance public safety.”