Summary: Roles of Rensselaer County Bureau of Public Safety
The Rensselaer County Bureau of Public Safety (RCBPS) typically coordinates and dispatches various emergency services agencies all over the County. It is the County’s Bureau or Department responsible for emergency services and ensuring public safety. The primary role of RCBPS is to manage the County’s sophisticated emergency services communications system and the 911 emergency response communications.[1] Indeed, its Emergency Communications Center serves as the main dispatch point for most fire departments in the County and Mutual Aid Center authorized for all the 42 Fire Departments.
The Bureau of Public Safety also has an obligation to handle and coordinate All-Hazard Emergency Management with the County Authorities or Government, Federal and State Agencies, and local municipalities. For instance, it ensures coordination of All-Hazard Emergency Management with State and Federal Agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the New York State Office of Emergency Management.[2] The RCBPS is also responsible for providing significant support services to help first responders in an emergency situation with the relevant requirements to deliver their critical services to the public.
Reasons for the UAS Program
The UAS training program will help the County train their own pilots and operators by giving them the skills and knowledge required in mission operations. Since the County does not have UAS operators, it will cost them a lot of funds hiring them from other jurisdictions. Therefore, to reduce the cost, establishing a UAS program will be the best option. The UAS program will also help the County in fighting crimes, combating fire emergencies, and assisting police and fire departments in their rescue efforts.[3] In most disasters, police officers, paramedics, and firefighters are usually the first responders. Incorporating the UAS program in police and fire departments will help them locate survivors in inaccessible places, especially during floods and earthquakes.[4] Unmanned aircraft can access and search places where vehicles and helicopters cannot, primarily because of their small size.[5]
Incorporating the UAS program in police and fire departments may improve situational awareness, especially during emergencies or when disasters strike. The operators’ ability to fly camera-toting unmanned aircraft some hundred feet above the emergency scene helps police find missing suspects or criminal incidents. In other words, the UAS program will help the police departments in the County search and rescue people, making them lifesaving tools and ensure first responders are more proactive.[6] It may also assist local public workers, and state transportation officials track down and assess damages to road networks and other infrastructure after natural disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes.[7]
Potential Solutions
Currently, the Rensselaer County want to incorporate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the police and fire departments. The County wants to raise funds and develop a detailed UAS training program as well as find out the UAS missions’ breadth, including thermal imaging, without depending on other jurisdictions. Our team can help the County raise funds. The team can organize a fundraising program that will enable well-wishers to donate some funds towards accomplishing the County’s goals. According to the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, approximately 46% of public safety agencies in the United States incorporating UAS programs are funded by donations.[8] Therefore, raising funds will allow the County to incorporate UAS in police and fire departments.
The team can also help by developing a detailed, comprehensive UAS training program. Since developing the training program will also cost the County money, the team can develop a detailed, up-to-date training program that is cost-effective and keeps trained operators safe, equipped, and informed to conduct any aerial missions. It would relieve the County of its burden to get the UAS pilots up to speed on the exact processes required to complete the police and fire departments’ specific missions.
The team can help frame a mission-specific training program to allow operators or trainees to understand emergency procedures and how decision-making and laws should be considered in any aerial mission. It could help ease the limitations of operating UAS under law enforcement policy. According to PoliceOne, some of the restrictions outlined under Part 107 rules “can be relaxed by applying for, and being granted, a waiver by demonstrating your operation meets or exceeds prescribed safety standards.”[9] This would help the operators understand the benefit of achieving Part 91COA over Part 107, which is the “ability for more flexible operations, especially when near an airport or in controlled airspace.”[10]
[1] Rensselaer County, Public Safety (New York, NY: Rensselaer County Bureau of Public Safety, 2020), Available at https://www.rensco.com/departments/public-safety/#:~:text=The%20Rensselaer%20County%20Bureau%20of,sophisticated%20Emergency%20Services%20Communications%20System. Retrieved on 15 October 2020.
[2] Ibid.
[3] DHS, Snapshot: First Responders Assess Drones for Search and Rescue Missions (United States, US: Department of Homeland Security, 2020), 10.
[4] Faust Daniel R., Police Drones (United States, US: Rosen Publishing Group, 2015), 24.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Bart Massey, Search and Rescue with Drones: Where to Begin (New York, NY: SAGE Publications, 2018), 13.
[7] Michael Boyle, The Drone Age: How Drone Technology Will Change War and Peace (London, UK: Oxford University Press, 2020), 67.
[8] Dan Gettinger, Public Safety Drones: 3rd Edition (United States, US: Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, 2020), 2.
[9] Andy Osantowske, UAS Operations: Which FAA Regulations is Best for Your Police Agency? (PoliceOne, 9 February 2018), Available at https://www.police1.com/2018-guide-drones/articles/uas-operations-which-faa-regulation-is-best-for-your-police-agency-LWGbt4fr2NcXF2kl/ Retrieved on 16 October 2020.
[10] Ibid.