VIDEO Link: Airborne Public Safety Association Unmanned Aerial System Award Presentation Video
SRASU Honored with the Airborne Public Safety Association Unmanned Aerial System Award, Reaccreditation of the Air Unit, and Accreditation of the Search and Rescue Unit
At this year’s Airborne Public Safety Association Conference (APSCON) held in Texas, the Spokane Regional Air Support Unit’s (SRASU) Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) team was honored with the 2024 Airborne Public Safety Association’s Unmanned Aerial System Award. The SRASU received reaccreditation of the Air Unit as a whole and accreditation of the Search and Rescue Unit (Rescue 3).
The SRASU UAS team earned the 2024 Airborne Public Safety Association (APSA) Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Award for its officer safety benefits, captures over the past two years, and the sizeable number of callout requests.
SRASU’s original UAS team, consisting of five operators, responded to over 150 callouts in 2022 (Approximately 550 flights and 125 hours of airtime). With the success and officer and community safety benefits proven, the team trained five new UAS members in July of 2023. With the implementation of the trained UAS operators, the callouts in 2023 increased to about 200 (Approximately 800 flights and over 150 hours of airtime).
Most callouts and flights include high team member participation due to the implementation of multiple UAS and safety requirements. The UAS team has proven to be a vital officer safety asset to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and its regional partners.
SRASU’s UAS team responds to various callout requests, primarily within Spokane County, serving over 500,000 citizens. Callouts include, but are not limited to, patrol assists, K9 tracks, foot pursuits, burglaries, assaults with deadly weapons, missing persons, SWAT, traffic collision reconstruction, and major crime scene mapping. The UAS team has also assisted detectives in task force roles during narcotics buys with confidential informants and undercover officers.
During in-progress calls, the UAS unit aids in gathering intelligence, along with monitoring, containing, and tracking suspects. They also provide situational awareness to supervisors/commanders to better serve officers on the ground in tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving encounters. The use of the UAS allows law enforcement to achieve these tasks without unnecessarily having to put personnel in harm’s way, which is crucial since the implementation of new laws in Washington State requiring officers to use ALL available de-escalation tactics (Time, Distance, and Shielding) to help prevent use of force encounters. The UAS’s ability to communicate with armed and dangerous suspects and/or persons in mental health crises by use of loudspeakers and built-in cellular phone devices is invaluable.
SRASU’s UAS team was implemented in 2018 with four members and has now grown to ten members (July 2023). It is comprised of eight Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Deputies and two Spokane Police Department Officers, all of whom are FAA Part 107 licensed pilots.
The team has been granted multiple Certificates of Authorization (COA) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for public aircraft flights, allowing jurisdictional flight within Spokane County. It also recently received an updated COA, granting the ability to fly First Responder Beyond Visual Line of Sight (FRBVLOS).
Initially, the team received a grant for a DJI Matrice 210 and Inspire 1 Pro. The unit has increased the fleet year after year with the advent of better aircraft, longer flight times, and advances in technological capabilities. The team now operates a DJI M300 RTK, three DJI M30T’s, two Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced series systems, a Phantom 4 Pro V2 (Crime/Crash Scene Mapping), three DJI Avata (Interior Searching), and two Brinc Lemur S models for cellphone capable communications. SRASU pilots have their vehicles equipped with large flat screens and charging stations for monitoring and continuous UAS coverage. They also utilize DroneSense to share situational awareness with any officers or supervisors needing immediate access to UAS footage.
The following individuals are responsible for upholding the Mission, Vision, and Values of the Spokane County UAS unit.
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Detective Jeffrey Welton, SRASU UAS Program Manager
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Louis Acosta
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Detective Chad Ruff
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Krystal Walker
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chris Giacomini
Spokane Police Department Officer Greg Thompson
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Kim Weeks
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Avery Johnson
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Tim Clanin
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Trevor Ball
Spokane Police Department Officer Makalia McKitrick.
Spokane Valley Police Chief and Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff David Ellis, who oversees the SRASU program, said, “These UAS operators are extremely skilled and well trained, and their dedication has proven invaluable to the Spokane Regional Air Support Unit and its mission to support area law enforcement, and first responders as they serve the citizens of Spokane County and our region. I am very proud of their efforts, and they are deserving of this prestigious award.”
This Spokane County Sheriff Office news article "SRASU Honored with the Airborne Public Safety Association Unmanned Aerial System Award" was originally found on https://www.spokanecounty.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?CID=7