NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Police Department announced last month that it will soon use drones, or small unmanned aircraft systems, for crime scene and vehicle crash documentation, surveillance, officer training and disaster response. It will join more than 1,500 police departments nationwide that do so. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office has used drones since 2020.
The NOLA Coalition — a collection of nearly 570 local nonprofits, civic organizations and businesses — announced that it supports the use of drones, guided by appropriate policies.
The coalition said a 2023 crime survey shows New Orleans citizens overwhelmingly support technologies such as drones to fight crime. 79% of all citizens support “the police department’s use of computer analytics and other technologies to solve crimes.”
The coalition believes drones will improve response times and increase situational awareness while improving operating cost efficiency and safety for officers and the public.
‘Per the proposed NOPD guidelines, deployments of this technology will be in direct support of emergencies, events, crime scenes and vehicular accident forensics collection, tactical operations, officer training classes, event response and other missions requiring aerial surveillance within a defined incident perimeter,” said a coalition spokesperson in a press release. “It is important to note that drones are already widely, safely and effectively used in other jurisdictions, including Jefferson Parish.”
