Since May, the Eugene Police Department has been employing drones on certain emergency calls. According to the department, they’ve sent the uncrewed aircraft out to 445 calls for service and logged 15 captures of suspects.
Police Chief Chris Skinner said EPD deploys drones “only in support of lawful police activity,” much like officers use body cameras, in-car videos or camera trailers. He said it can help officers get a sneak peak of what they’re about to encounter.
“I think it could cut down on use of force situations,” Skinner said. “It could increase our ability to apprehend suspects and enhance overall, certainly officer safety if not community safety.”
The EPD Drone Team is comprised of 13 operators, including a supervising sergeant. The program has four drones which can fly for 30 minutes at a time.
Since EPD began tracking the program's efficiency the drones were first-on-scene 76% of the time and 28% of the calls were cleared without patrols responding in person.
The program is funded by Eugene’s Community Safety Payroll Tax.
As the use of drone technology continues to grow, so do arguments for and against it. In a 2023 summary of “Law Enforcement and Technology: Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems” for the Congressional Research Service, some observers cited unease over the use of drones by law enforcement. Concerns included infringement of individual privacy rights or chilling of free speech if law enforcement may fly drones over First Amendment-protected activities.
