Council approves new Shafter PD Drone Program

Shafter will be expanding the Police Department's drone capabilities in the near future after a vote by the City Council Tuesday night.

The council approved the department's Drone Program after a presentation from Sergeant Storm Kincade, the certified drone pilot for the Shafter police, to do the presentation for the council on the program.

Kincade said that the department has purchased a DJ Mavik 3T drone, which is a multiuse drone that will benefit the safety of police and the public. According to Kincade, the drone has a 4K video and still camera, as well as heat-seeking capabilities. It has a thermal camera, which has heat signatures, as well as a loudspeaker that can make announcements when needed.

The department is also looking into acquiring two smaller drones that would be used for indoors, such as clearing houses, relieving the need of an officer to enter the building or residence first, putting him or her in danger.

The drone also has the capability of transmitting the data it is recording to other locations, such as headquarters, or officers' vehicles. The $13,900 program includes the drone, batteries and chargers.

The council applauded the program, and Mayor Chad Givens said that this is a much-needed program. "I have been pushing for the Drone Program for a year now, so I am very excited to see it realized," he said. "I would like to have more than one, but due to the licensing, I understand that it may take some time."

Kincade mentioned that he is the only licensed pilot of the drone in the department, but he said that there are other members of the department who are interested in becoming involved in the program, but Kincade did say that the Federal Aviation Administration process is lengthy.

In other council action, the council discussed a resolution that would give each council member $4,000 that they could allocate to a community event that is considered as a public event.

Mayor Pro-Tem Cathy Prout and Councilmember Pete Espinoza thought that with something like this, it might make the organizations in town expect help, instead of having to raise funds for their own events, putting more responsibility on the city that should not be there.

Mayor Givens disagreed, saying that he does not think that the service clubs or organizations would not use the funds as a crutch, but just as a helping hand to their hard work.

The resolution would make it unnecessary for different requests for council support to be brought to the council in meetings, so they would not have to go through the whole process for each request before them.

In the end, the council decided to table the discussion and see what happens during the year, and maybe revisit the issue later in the year. They said that they were going to review what the city is spending on different events throughout the year and may decide on the policy at a later date.