2021 Police Annual Report_v5 (1)

DRONE DEPLOYMENTS BY YEAR

38

SMALL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM

30

22

19

5

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

In 2016, The Orland Park Police Department (OPPD) became the first municipal police department in Illinois to receive Federal Aviation Administration (F.A.A.) authorization to operate a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) in national airspace for law enforcement operations. The Department now has fifteen (15) F.A.A. licensed sUAS pilots who work all shifts and are capable of flying the drones at any time, day or night. In 2020, these operators gave a virtual presentation to a national audience, about the OPPD sUAS program, at the request of the F.A.A. The OPPD had (22) drone deployments in 2021 which reflects a forty-two (42) percent decrease from 2020. In these deployments, OPPD sUAS operators located a suicidal subject, a driver who fled a hit and run vehicle crash, and a missing two year-old child. They also assisted other agencies in locating fleeing suspects and one call in which a subject was armed with an AR-15 rifle in a stolen vehicle.

DRONE DEPLOYMENTS BY MONTH

6

4

3

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

0

0

AUG SEP

OCT

NOV DEC

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL

56 | POLICE ANNUAL REPORT

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