INTRODUCTION OF THE NEW FULLERTON POLICE DEPARTMENT’S UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS (UAS) TEAM

The Fullerton Police Department has been developing its Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) program for almost two years and is now ready to join the other 900 public agencies using UAS’s.

The deployment of civilian UAS will be used to assist the City of Fullerton and incident commanders on heightened situational awareness on specific incidents under strictly regulated guidelines.

The intended use for the UAS will be for critical incident management, searches for lost or missing persons, traffic collision scene documentation, support of search warrant and high risk operations as well as situational awareness to assist decision makers in understanding the nature, scale, scope of an incident and for planning and coordinating an effective response.

The UAS will not be used for routine police patrols, unlawful surveillance or to enforce traffic laws, and will not be weaponized. These devices will be deployed solely by the UAS team, which consists of a Lieutenant, a Sergeant, and 4 pilots all who are certified commercially with the FAA. The Fullerton Police UAS team and the program have been approved by the FAA, air-traffic control and the local airports.

The Fullerton Police Department is excited to further enhance its mission statement by taking advantage of the always improving technology, to be more responsive to the community and carry out the critical work by being more effective, efficient and safer for everyone. For more information please go to our website.