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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Sergeant Andrew Wolcott & Vince Smith, GIS Manager
DATE: 9/24/2018
SUBJECT:
Resolution from the Aurora Police Department and the Aurora Information Technology Department to purchase (4) Unmanned Aircraft Systems, commonly referred to as drones, and the equipment necessary to operate them for a total amount of $56,417.49.
PURPOSE:
To request authorization from the Aurora City Council to purchase (4) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), commonly referred to as drones, and the necessary equipment to operate them.
BACKGROUND:
Officers from the Aurora Police Department respond daily to large variety of calls for service. Modern day policing truly expects that those officers are multifaceted in their handling of those calls and that they handle those calls expeditiously, frequently with less and less resources. Providing officers with additional tools to help them to achieve the expectations placed on them daily would help the department become more efficient.
One way to help resolve some of these issues is to use tools to lessen the amount of officers needed on some of the calls that typically "eat up" manpower, while providing the citizens faster results and at the same time enhancing officer safety. A tool that would give an officer a bird's-eye view of an incident would not only allow the officer to see the "big picture", but would greatly increase officer safety. The use of a helicopter or airplane is not necessarily practical because of both the expense of owning one and the availability and timeliness to get one of the few law enforcement helicopters or airplanes that even exist in the Chicago area to respond. Also, many of the incidents that we would need to helicopter or airplane might not qualify for the response of those resources from agencies that provide them.
On the Information Technology side, traditionally the City of Aurora depends on aerial imagery from county government for its aerial mapping. Geographic...
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