DUNWOODY, Ga. — We know cameras are watching us almost everywhere we go on the roads, even reading our license plates.
Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach was in DeKalb County, where the Dunwoody Police Department launched new high-tech drones for public safety.
“These aren’t the same drones we could buy, or other departments may take to a scene, there’s a drone on the roof here that becomes a true first responder,” Dunwoody Police Sgt. Michael Cheek said.
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The drones liftoff from a launch pad and docking station on the roof of Dunwoody’s city hall. For the police department, they’re new eyes in the sky, controlled just two floors down in the department’s real time crime center.
“We just have to have two miles of airspace visibility,” Cheek said.
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The drone program, flying from the start of 2025, comes from Flock Safety as part of the company’s new aviation sector.
The company also cut the ribbon on a new drone manufacturing facility in Cobb County on Wednesday and the drones are fully integrated, from 911 to Flock cameras and tag readers.
“All these different things come together to work as one,” Cheek told Channel 2 Action News.
While speaking with Gehlbach about the drone program, a call came in from just off Interstate 285.
Within a minute of launching, the drone had an accident on the highway in its sights.
The drone can even zoom in on accidents well before police arrive. It’s not only faster, helping to cut down response times, but police said the drone is safer too.
Last month, when officers were called to respond to a suspect firing a gun randomly in a busy shopping area, Dunwoody police deployed the drone as officers searched on the ground.
The drone spotted the suspect, even seeing a distinct neck tattoo, and saw that it was a phone in his hand, not a gun.
“They handcuffed him, with zero incident,” Cheek said.
And with complete stealth, the drone confirmed the identity from over 300 feet in the air, almost a quarter mile away.
“To have that kind of overwatch from that far away just absolutely changes the game with safety, and how we can execute something like that for the safety of us, civilians and him,” Cheek said.
Soon, permits from the Federal Aviation Administration will allow them to fly the drone without having to have someone on the roof. Once that happens, they can launch the drones from inside, or any supervisor on patrol can fly and pilot the drone right from their patrol car.
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