A DJI M30T drone
The Hoover City Council on Monday night agreed to pay $49,000 for a new drone that police officers can deploy remotely from their homes.
The Hoover Police Department has been using drones for about eight years, but thus far, the pilots of the drones have always been on the scene to operate them. This will change that.
With this new drone, a police officer who operates drones and is home at night could be called into action quickly and have a drone in the air within a few minutes, police Chief Nick Derzis said. He wouldn’t have to drive to the police station, pick up a drone and then drive to the scene, the chief said. He could even be 200 to 300 miles away and operate the drone, Derzis said.
It’s a great time-saver, said Kenny Fountain, the department’s executive officer. “They can do it from their home on their computer. It’s amazing stuff and all via internet,” Fountain said.
Police use the drones in situations such as a missing person, a foot chase, traffic control or other situations where an aerial view gives a tactical advantage, Fountain said. This drone — a DJI M30T — also has infrared capabilities that allow officers to locate people using thermal imaging to detect body heat. It can travel 3 miles from its docking station, he said.
Derzis said he could envision having drones like this in multiple locations around town, such as fire stations. “It’s some technology we’ve never tried before, and I’d like to use it this year.”
Federal Aviation Administration regulations usually require drone operators to be on site to fly legally, but police can get an exemption from that requirement if they have other officers on site who are trained “visual observers,” Fountain said.
The company providing it will take care of maintenance and battery replacements and provides $2 million worth of liability insurance for the drone, Fountain said.
The Police Department plans to pay for the drone, its docking station and the proprietary software using money it gets from the federal government to house federal prisoners at the Hoover Jail, Derzis said.
The Tuscaloosa Police Department is getting five or six of these, Fountain said. Hoover hopes to have its first one in operation by Oct. 1, he said.
The department currently has three drones of this size and eight smaller ones that trained pilots usually carry with them, so this will be the 12th drone in the fleet, Fountain said.
In other business Monday night, the council amended its 2024 budget to provide another $600,000 for conversion of baseball and softball fields to artificial turf (bringing total city expenditures for that project to $9.6 million) and another $400,000 for auto parts and fuel for the city’s vehicles this fiscal year.
The city has higher-than-expected revenues from things such as utility licenses that should offset the extra fleet expenses and prevent this from negatively affecting the city’s bottom line, Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Cornett said. Also, the city will be taking money from already budgeted funds for future turf replacement at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex to cover the extra turf costs elsewhere this year, she said.
The City Council also on Monday:
- Accepted a $10,000 grant from the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham for improvements to Blue Ridge Park next to Shades Mountain Elementary School, including invasive species removal, trail improvements, debris removal and wayfinding and educational signs
- Approved licenses for Galleria Mobil to sell alcoholic beverages at 1767 Montgomery Highway and the HQ BBQ and Hot Pot to sell alcoholic beverages at 2740 John Hawkins Parkway.
- Rezoned recently annexed properties at 2849 Berkeley Drive, 995 Bridgewater Park, 1523 Highland Gate Point, 2440 Southwood Trace, 2444 Southwood Trace, 2448 Southwood Trace, 2821 Sterling Way, 249 South Burbank Drive and 250 South Burbank Drive to R-1 single-family residential districts.
- Declared properties at 1999 Montgomery Highway, 2125 Tyler Lane, 2400 Savoy St., 3033 Lorna Road, 3469 Birchtree Drive and 5303 Park Side Circle as public nuisances due to high weeds and/or grass.
- Agreed to pay someone to cut high weeds and/or grass at 2054 Woodmeadow Circle, 2337 Tyler road and 3575 Lorna Ridge Drive and issue liens on the properties to cover the costs.
- Honored Assistant Library Director Carrie Steinmehl and Emergency Communications Manager Collin Nelson for 25 years of service to the city.
- Declared July to be Park and Recreation Month and recognized members of the Hoover Parks and Recreation Board and Parks and Recreation Department staff.
See the full video of Monday night's Hoover City Council meeting on The Hoover Channel Youtube page, and see discussion about the new drone in a video of the Hoover City Council work session on July 11 at the same page.
