[Scan-DC] O.C. Officials Sign Off on Ambitious Drone Program

[Alan Henney]

From:  https://mdcoastdispatch.com/

*Resort Officials Sign Off on Ambitious Drone Program*

Shawn J. Soper
Managing Editor

OCEAN CITY- The future has arrived in Ocean City with a plan approved this
week to utilize Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), or drones for all manner
of public safety and other applications.

For the last several months, Emergency Services Director Joe Theobald has
been working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other
regulatory agencies to allow Ocean City to begin implementing a UAS, or
drone, program in a variety of capacities over the skies of the resort. The
use of drones for public safety and other governmental interests is
certainly not new, but Theobald and his staff has been working closely with
the FAA and other regulatory agencies to tailor a suitable program that
meets the resort’s specific needs.

On Tuesday, Theobald presented the Mayor and Council with an outline of the
UAS program. Already the town has secured three of the aircraft through
grant funding and has worked through the approval process with restrictions
appropriate to the resort area.

“This is something that has been under consideration for about 20 months,”
he said. “This is a tool that’s good for the town from a public safety
standpoint and a myriad of other uses. It’s been a tedious approval
process, but we wanted to establish a program that meets all of our needs
and complies with all federal guidelines.” The sky’s the limit, so to
speak, for the town’s budding drone program in a variety of uses. For
example, from a law enforcement standpoint, the drones can be used for
aerial surveillance during incidents and accidents and they can be used to
provide aerial images of special events and other areas where large crowds
gather.

>From the fire department standpoint, the UAS can provide firefighters and
first-responders with real-time aerial images of active fires and other
emergency situations, allowing the department to best direct operations
from the ground. The Beach Patrol and other first-responders will be able
to use the drones for water search and rescue missions, and the UAS can
also be used to survey post-storm beach erosion, flooding and other uses.

What the drones won’t be used for, according to Theobald, is to survey
everyday crowds on the beach or Boardwalk or any purposes that would hint
at spying on residents and visitors. The tedious approval process went to
great lengths to ensure the drones are used for their intended purposes.

“The public needs to have an expectation of what we’re trying to
accomplish,” he said. “The tenets of the program are privacy and civil
liberties. The public has to buy into this. We don’t want the perception
that Big Brother is flying around watching everything. That is not the
intent of the program.”

Theobald said the relative remote nature of the resort away from major
airports and heavy aircraft traffic areas somewhat eased some of the
restrictions placed on drone usage in other areas.

“We don’t have a lot of the restrictions that other areas in Maryland would
have,” he said. “We don’t have to worry about BWI, and we don’t have to
worry about Salisbury. Our geographic location is really perfect for this
program.”

For that reason, some restrictions imposed on drone usage in other areas
won’t apply in the resort area. “Again, it’s been a tedious process, but
we’ve been granted the authority to do certain things because of our
approvals,” he said. “The groundwork is done on some of these things. For
example, we will be able to fly over people and we’ll be able to fly at
night.”

Already, Ocean City has secured three of the approved UAS. The next step is
training operators to fly them. The potential pool of candidates will
likely come from police, fire and other emergency personnel, but the
program could be open to other town employees.

“We were able to purchase three aircraft through grants and they are
equipped with cameras and spotlights,” he said. “We didn’t want to spend a
lot of money up front. We want to walk first and get the program up and
running before we get running with it. We’re asking for your support so we
can pursue this further. The goal now is to get 10 people certified to fly
these drones. We have to start somewhere.”

Satisfied the program as presented did not represent a significant
financial burden and that the requirements have been met and the privacy
and civil liberties issues have been resolved, the council voted
unanimously to approve the program.

“I’ve read a lot of articles in trade magazines about these programs and I
can see a lot of uses for law enforcement, for engineering,” said
Councilman Mark Paddack. “On the fire department side, I can see a lot of
applications for them as well. Perhaps the most important thing I see is
the Beach Patrol using these for search and rescue missions. From the
ground level, it’s difficult to see a victim in the water.”