Meet the drone expert

MA: Having been hired by the City of San Mateo in February 2000, I just celebrated my 25th year here. I’ve served the community through a variety of assignments, and in 2016 I became what’s known as a Master Officer. My assignments have included undercover narcotics, field training officer, drone operator and the traffic unit, where I’ve spent the past 10 years and currently serve as the senior traffic officer. I take pride in my service as a motor instructor and my time spent at motor school. In recent years, I’ve become an integral piece of our drone unit as our resident drone expert.

DJ: When did you first fly drones for the department?

MA: I was assigned to operate drones in 2017, when the department first started using them, primarily for traffic collisions and investigations, and for special deployment missions involving SMPD SWAT.

DJ: What drones do the San Mateo police use now?

MA: Three Skydio X10 patrol drones, three Skydio dock drones and 10 DJI interior and exterior patrol drones. They have individual FAA serial numbers and, at all times while airborne, operate with red and blue police lights visible from the ground. Some also have an SMPD patch affixed to them that can be seen when grounded. They are part of the drone unit, and any certified pilot from the unit can use the drones they have been certified to fly for SMPD missions.

DJ: What law enforcement situations can involve drones?

MA: Search and rescue, suspicious subjects, stolen vehicles, bank alarms, residential burglaries, vehicle collisions and more. These are just a few examples from a long list. Essentially, anywhere we can fly that can provide us eyes in the sky to assist responding officers and officers on scene.

DJ: What kind of drone training do San Mateo police officers get?

MA: We attend a three-day drone course at the RTC Center in Southern California and, upon completion, receive a Part 107 drone pilot certificate from the FAA. Then we receive additional in-house training and certification to operate SMPD drones.

DJ: What’s the hardest part about drone police work?

MA: Our officers count on the video feed from the drone for officer safety. One of the hardest things is making sure we get the drone in the right position in order to relay important and sometimes life-saving information to officers. We have to make sure we are following policy and flight safety protocols and providing intelligence all at the same time.

DJ: What is the most useful feature on the drones you use right now?

MA: The camera is by far the most useful feature. However, we are utilizing drones with the capability to drop life-saving equipment such as a life preserver, Narcan, a tourniquet or other medical devices.

DJ: Can you describe a time when a drone made a big difference on the job?

MA: There was a case from South San Francisco PD where a suspect was involved in a shooting with a rifle. The suspect was shooting at his neighbor from his own home. As the police were responding, a drone was deployed. The drone was able to see the suspect lying in wait in his driveway with the rifle pointed in the direction of where the officers were initially going to approach. The drone operator was able to advise the officers that the avenue of approach was not safe, and they were able to utilize a different route, which ultimately saved their lives as this call ended in an officer-involved shooting.

DJ: Where do the drones park?

MA: We have two different ways we store the drones. Some of them are stored in a case ready to be deployed out in the field. Some are stored in docks mounted on roofs ready to fly to a call for service. Patrol-deployed drones are stored at the San Mateo Police Department. The Skydio docks are positioned on the north and south ends of the city, with an additional dock at the Skydio headquarters near the College of San Mateo.

The locations were strategically selected for response times in the airspace that we are allowed to fly in. When we first selected the dock locations, we were limited by the FAA on where we could fly. We have since unlocked all the airspace above the city of San Mateo, which gives us more options for dock locations in the future.

DJ: Are there drone demonstrations open to the public?

MA: We do drone demonstrations for our community police academy, the city service academy, during disaster preparedness days, for children at school presentations and at other public events.