POTTSTOWN — Borough council is expected to vote Monday on a policy that will allow an airborne drone to be used by police in connection with the “Shots Fired” program to help quickly investigate shooting incidents.
Pottstown Police Chief Michael Markovich made a presentation to the council at the July 9 work session, including a video from Brinc, the company that makes the system.
According to Markovich and the presentation, the single drone would lift off from the roof of Borough Hall whenever the Shot-Spotter program detects a suspected gunshot and fly at a height of approximately 200 feet. The drone has a collision prevention system, Markovich said.
Introduced two years ago, Shot-Spotter is an advanced sound-based detection system and has become sophisticated enough that using sensors set up around a 2-square-mile area allows for the “triangulation,” not only of the location, within feet but even the caliber of the weapon, according to a presentation made in 2023 by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.
The Shot’s Fired system can get that information to a police officer’s mobile phone “within 60 seconds,” Steele said. It will also improve police safety by giving the responding officers vital information about the situation into which they are headed. Borough police had been using the Shots Fire system successfully since it was implemented and credit it with helping to solve several shootings.
The drone system complements and enhances the Shots Fired system by getting a drone at the scene faster than a patrol car and providing vital information about the scene before responding officers arrive, Markovich said.
For example, in the video, a store-keeper spots what he thinks is a gun being carried by one of his customers and calls 911 to report an armed robbery. But when the drone arrives, the operator is able to determine that the “gun” being carried is actually a cigarette lighter and get that information to the officer before he arrives, thus preventing the non-criminal situation from escalating.
The drone, which is about 12 inches by 12 inches, will be operated by trained personnel in the district attorney’s office, at least initially, given that it requires FAA approval, Markovich told the council.
When not in use, the drone will abide in a 300-pound, climate-controlled “nest” on the roof of borough hall, he said.
According to the video, the drone has all kinds of additional uses, like carrying a first-aid kit to a stricken hiker, using infrared to locate victims in fires and building collapses, but Markovich said for now, the only time it would be used in Pottstown is when a Shot’s Fired alert detects a gun shot.
That was a relief to Councilwoman Lisa Vanni, who said, “I work in technology and I have privacy concerns. I want to make sure it is not being used for surveillance.” Vanni was also assured by Markovich that, to his knowledge, it would not be easy to hack the program by which the drone operates.
“We want to be mindful of transparency with council and the public and the policy to be proposed Monday is limited in scope and if we were to decide we wanted to expand the uses for the drone, we would have to come back to council,” Borough Manager Justin Keller said Wednesday night.
Markovich also noted that the drone and its use will come at no cost to the borough.
“Since the borough owns Borough Hall, it will be kind of a lease situation,” said Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. The agreement would also ensure that the borough bears no legal liability for the drone’s use.
The equipment to be used in Pottstown will not be installed until the fall, provided the council approves the policy Monday, because it is not yet ready, said Markovich.
Source: Berkshire mont
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