The Oak Brook Police Department is deploying a fully autonomous drone to assess situations, and, more often than not, beat uniformed officers to the scene.
The newest eye in the sky is billed as a vital tool for everyone's safety.
The first responder drone made by Flock Safety is housed on the top of the department, and sits at the ready to take flight in an instant anywhere in the 8 square miles of the village.
"So, the drone to get to any scene within a minute and a half, they're going to get that real in-progress real-time information, video data, license plates, offender information and relay that in real time," Oak Brook Police Chief Brian Strockis said.
He said the new technology is not seen anywhere else in Illinois.
Inside the station, operators in their "new real-time crime center" can deploy the drone at their discretion, based on scanner traffic. It then flies at 200-400 feet above roads and red lights, without a human operator.
Eventually, the drone will be able to deploy itself, based on specific emergency calls that come in.
"It'll get there, nine times out of 10, before an officer will arrive. And it'll be the best camera angle and the best view of that situation, as it's evolving," Strockis said.
Strockis said they've already seen strong results.
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"Just this week, the drone was deployed during a police chase ending in Lombard, helping Oak Brook police apprehend an offender. The drone the entire time was able to record that incident and follow the pursuit, relay information to officers on the ground, and that video evidence is going to be crucial in court," he said.
But large questions still loom about oversight and the impact on civil liberties.
While police departments throughout the country are interested in adding drones as first responders to their arsenal of investigative tools, Beryl Lipton, senior investigative Researcher with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said citizens should be concerned about their privacy rights.
"I think it's incredibly important for communities that are implementing drone as first responder programs to have clear policies around the types of features that are going to be actually used, and how the use of those features is going to be tracked," she said. "Right now, it's up to many police departments to determine themselves if they are using their drones in accordance with state law. Another important element for people to be considering is the retention period for the data that is being collected."
Oak Brook police said they do not retain footage of calls unrelated to criminal investigations.
Their investment in the new technology is a hefty $275,000 per year of the initial contract. Oak Brook's village president said this is still a more cost effective force multiplier.
"As much as that is, it is actually still a smaller investment than adding a single beat officer to our round-the-clock shift," Larry Herman said.
In addition to law enforcement drone use mandated reporting in Illinois law, the Oak Brook police said their drone's camera is not facing the ground en route to a call for service, and only swivels down when it gets to the call location.
Flight paths are also posted to the village website. The police chief estimated most police departments will have a drone as a first responder program in the next five years.