#Butler county sheriff news software
#Butler county sheriff news license

There’s air drones and water drones, we all share, police and fire share the drones. “We just don’t use it for us, we use it for other law enforcement agencies and even other counties. “In this day and time you’ve got to have the equipment, the technology and we share this,” Jones said. Jones said everybody in the county who has a drone is willing to share with those who don’t. When the sheriff’s office got their first drone there were about 400,000 drones registered, today there are 855,704 commercial and recreational drones in the United States. The Federal Aviation Administration regulates the use of unmanned aircraft and they must be registered. Monroe got two in 2017, Oxford spent $11,349 buying one in 2020, Fairfield got two last year for $7,000, Hamilton has one shared drone and Middletown is hoping to identify funding to buy one next year. Other police departments in the county have also purchased drones in the past few years.

#Butler county sheriff news license

They haven’t deployed the new devise yet because two officers are training and need a pilot’s license to fly it.

#Butler county sheriff news software

The drone they just bought cost $15,237 for the hardware, $10,397 for software and $700 for training. Herzog said they also plan to buy another drone for the tactical (SWAT) team soon and it will cost about $10,000. The three bigger devices are about $4,500 each and the smaller drones cost about $500 each “as far as taxpayer money, they have paid for themselves many, many times over.” Randall Lambert, who originally pitched the drone idea to the sheriff, said they retired the two original drones because they became obsolete two years later. You can see the crash pattern, you can see the skid marks, from the air it’s a whole lot different when you’re seeing it from the air versus standing on the ground.”īCSO Lt. “You take them up in the air and you can actually get a visual an photographs of like if they’re running off the road you can see the path, because of the grass, the way it’s laid down and the gravel. “It’s a great asset, we use them on a regular basis for traffic, when there’s a crash, a fatality,” Jones said. Jones said they also have an underwater drone. The sheriff got his first two drones in 2016 for $1,200 each, the office now has three big 6-blade drones and two smaller devices. They will use it for traffic crash reconstruction, 3-D imaging to help determine cause and fault and for locating missing persons and “suspects in hiding because it will have infrared night vision.” We thought it was time for us to purchase one.” “But we’re finding a decrease in availability being taxed on us, we can’t rely on other agencies to constantly provide those. Why spend additional funds when we can use theirs,” Herzog said. “The Butler County sheriffs also had drones with several capabilities and we didn’t want to duplicate resources. West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog told the Journal-News it was time for the township to follow suit. Several other jurisdictions, including Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, have had eyes in the sky for some time.

West Chester trustees recently approved the $27,690 purchase which includes the drone itself, software, training and a 5% contingency. Officials said the bird’s eye view is invaluable. is the latest jurisdiction to purchase a drone, which helps the cops hunt down fleeing suspects, find missing persons and investigate traffic crashes.

The application process for this accreditation began in 2011 but was delayed several times while the deputy in charge of the process was deployed overseas as a member of the armed forces.West Chester Twp. They did this voluntarily and it says that right in the proclamation they’re to be commended.” “Less than 10% of Pennsylvania’s law enforcement has chosen to become accredited and that’s a pat on the back especially when the sheriff’s office is not being forced into it or made to do it. The State Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission recognizes law enforcement agencies from across the state that meet rigorous policy and procedure standards in areas including evidence, fingerprinting, safety, harassment, and hiring.Īccording to Randolph Cox, Somerset Borough Police Chief and presenter of the accreditation award, very few agencies have made the choice to do the work required as part of this process. “It’s a great honor to be able to have policies and procedures in place that are standardized in the industry of law enforcement.”

For the first time in the history of the county, the Butler County Sheriff’s Department has been accredited by the state.