Montgomery Police Drone Chief: 'We Got Our Hands Slapped' by Council
The head of the Montgomery County, Maryland, police drone program said the department first sought drone funding without consulting residents and the County Council corrected it. The program now runs 12 drones and assists with about 750 calls a month.
The director of the drone program at the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland said this week that the department first asked for drone funding without speaking to residents, and that the County Council set it straight. Tony Galladora, who runs the department's Operational Intelligence Division, spoke at the AUVSI Drone and AAM Policy Symposium, held Nov. 9 and 10 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. His Drone as First Responder (DFR) program has since grown to 12 drones at six dock sites, assisting with about 750 calls for service a month.
How the council stopped the funding
County Executive Marc Elrich's recommended fiscal 2024 budget included $250,000 for a DFR pilot, according to an April 20, 2023, council staff packet. The council did not fund it that spring. After a summer of outreach, it approved $350,000 for two drones on Nov. 7, 2023. "We got our hands slapped and got put on a proper path to fix that," Galladora said.
Police held town halls over the summer and revised their drone directive in September. Two council committees then tightened the appropriation's wording so the drones could not be used for surveillance, including of First Amendment events, unless there is an immediate safety threat. The vote was unanimous, and the first drone flew on Nov. 20, 2023.
Responding only to calls
Galladora said "proactive" flights are not widely accepted in the county, so the drones respond strictly to 911 calls. The program page says the drones do not patrol, have no facial recognition and record no audio. Every flight is posted to a public dashboard; on Nov. 13 it listed 345 flights since Nov. 1.
Officer shortage
The department is down about 200 officers and is looking to technology to compensate. In July it said it was replacing its DJI drones and rooftop pilots with Skydio X10 aircraft in docks, flown beyond visual line of sight from the county's Joint Operations Center.
