DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance Announces Inaugural Board of Advisors

In May 2018, the Bard Center for the Study of Drones reported that over 900 public safety agencies drones had received a certificate of authorization (COA) by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In Virginia and other states that I researched, the number of agencies that have drones is significantly higher as some agencies are operating under 14 CFR Part 107 Rules. In Virginia, the Bard Center’s report listed 26 agencies that had received public safety COAs but the actual total was at least 52. From conversations with colleagues, these numbers are even higher in other states. I would guesstimate that there are easily over 2000 public safety agencies operating in the United States and the growth is now becoming exponential. 

While the adoption of public safety drones are on a sharp rise, there is still limited amount of information available as this is a new frontier for most agencies. DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance is designed to serve as a clearinghouse of public safety drone information that will communicate, collaborate and coordinate with and between public safety drone programs and public safety remote pilots by compiling, creating and sharing policies, procedures, best practices, lessons learned and trends. 

DRONERESPONDERS will create a community where public safety agencies, responders, academia, training companies, academia, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and industry can come together and collaborate on public safety drone related issues and interests. A Forum will provide a methodical way to share information, ask questions and/or share information. 

Training is also a big issue and DRONERESPONDERS will be working diligently with various partners to develop a standardized set of training protocols and to assist in the development of public safety drone certifications. 

DRONERESPONDERS will also create an environment to bring the public safety community together with the droneindustry to identify gaps, request enhancements and collaborate to continually improve and evolve public safety drones. 

DRONERESPONDERS will also be involved with the entire drone ecosystem as it will work to advance the enabling of drones for good, countering drones for bad and implementation of a universal air traffic management system (manned & unmanned).

The inaugural 2019-2020 DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance Board of Advisors is comprised of:

1. Greg Agvent, Senior Director of National News Technology, CNN AIR, Georgia
2. Jim Baker, Sergeant, UAS Lead, Collier County Sheriff’s Office, Florida
3. Chris Barron, Executive Director, State Firefighters’ & Fire Marshals’ Association, Texas
4. Leon Borrman, UAS Lead, Albany County Sheriff’s Office, New York
5. Gregory Crutsinger, Ph.D. GIS Specialist, Founder, Scholar Farms, California
6. Darshan Divakaran, UAS Program Engineer, NCDOT, North Carolina
7. Angi English, Chief of Staff, New Mexico Department of Homeland Security, New Mexico
8. Richard Fields Battalion Chief, UAS Lead, Los Angeles City Fire Department, California
9. Paige Fitzgerald, UAS Program Manager, Delaware Emergency Management, Delaware
10. Kay Goss, Editorial Board of Review, Journal of Emergency Management, Virginia
11. Chris Gould, Battalion Chief, Southern Manatee Fire & Rescue, Florida
12. Chris Grazioso, sUAS Team Leader, Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council, Massachusetts
13. Charlie Guddemi, State Interoperability Coordinator, Emergency Management, District of Columbia
14. David Hartman, Battalion Chief (Ret.), Charlottesville Fire Department, Virginia
15. Depu John, Detective 2^nd Grade, New York Police Department New York
16. Drew Jurkofsky, Accident Reconstruction, City of Fort Collins Police Department, Colorado
17. Coitt Kessler, UAS Lead, Austin Fire Department, Texas
18. Robert Koester, Ph.D. Lost Person Behavior, CEO, dbS Productions, Virginia
19. David Kovar, CEO, Unmanned & Robotic Systems Analysis (URSA), New Hampshire
20. John Lambert, President, AUVSI Florida Peninsula Chapter, Florida
21. Cathy Lanier, Senior Vice President of Security, National Football League, New York
22. Michael Leo, Captain, UAS Lead, Fire Department of New York, New York
23. Anthony Loperfido, Police Sergeant, UAS Lead, Miami Beach Police Department, Florida
24. Thomas Madigan, Commander, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, California
25. Timothy Martin, Captain, Lead UAS Instructor, Huntington Beach Police Department, California
26. Ben Miller, Director, Colorado Center of Excellence of Advanced Aerial Firefighting, Colorado
27. Keenan Newton, UAS Coordinator, Lynwood Fire Department, Illinois
28. Mickey Osterreicher, General Counsel, National Press Photographers Association, New York
29. Eddie Reyes, Director, Prince William County Office of Public Safety, Virginia
30. Steve Rhode, Chief Pilot, Wake Forest Fire Department, North Carolina
31. Gene Robinson, UAS SAR, Principal, Drone Pilot, Inc, Texas
32. Matt Rogers, Police Sergeant, Aviation Unit, Michigan State Police, Michigan
33. Chris Sadler, Deputy Chief, UAS Lead, York County Fire and Life Safety, Virginia
34. Harold Schapelhouman, Chief, Menlo Park Fire District, California
35. Patrick Sherman, Drone Advisor/Thermographer, Tualatin Valley Fire Rescue, Oregon
36. Don Shinnamon, Vice President of Operations, Unmanned Safety Institute, Florida
37. Christopher Todd, Executive Director, AIRT (Airborne International Response Team), Florida
38. Kenneth Voiret, Captain, Air Operations Division, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Florida
39. Cliff Weaver, EMA Director, Evansville/Vanderburgh Emergency Management Agency, Indiana
40. Jay Willmott, UAS Subject Matter Expert, Virginia Center for Innovative Technology, Virginia
41. Austin Worcester, Senior Program Manager sUAS, Civil Air Patrol, Washington DC

“We are extremely fortunate to have such high caliber leaders willing to pitch-in and support the DRONERESPONDERS mission,” says Chief Charles Werner (ret.), Director of the DRONERESPONDERS program.  “This board of advisors will provide their specific expertise to help ensure that we are focusing on the proper goals and objectives to facilitate the use of UAS by public safety agencies.”  

Werner says all DRONERESPONDERS advisory board members will serve an initial term from July 1 to December 31, 2020.  The advisors will then either be retained or replaced for a new 1 or 2-year terms starting January 1, 2021 and resulting in one-half of the DRONERESPONDERS advisory board positions re-opening on an annual basis.  

“The adoption of UAS in the public safety sector is evolving extremely rapidly,” says Werner.  “It’s vital for DRONERESPONDERS to keep pace by continually absorbing and promoting new concepts and fresh ideas from those serving as our advisors.”   Werner realizes there is an abundance of UAS thought leadership within the public safety domain. 

He wants more individuals to become involved and contribute to the DRONEREPONDERS mission through spearheading various committees, working groups and task forces.  He says DRONERESPONDERS is presently establishing partnerships across academia, industry, government agencies (local, state, and federal), and nongovernmental organizations.  

The DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance is operated as an official program under AIRT, Inc., a Florida-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization formed in 2017 to help provide unmanned aviation research and charitable contributions for public safety and disaster relief. Individuals and organizational representatives interested in becoming more involved in the DRONERESPONDERS program should visit droneresponders.org to join the no-fee program.  

“Make no mistake, we want and need all the help we can get in making the DRONERESPONDERS program successful,” says Werner.  “We have opportunities for everyone who has a strong desire to participate and contribute to get involved!”    

About DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance

The DRONERESPONDERS non-profit mission is to facilitate preparedness, response and resilience using unmanned aircraft systems and related technologies operated by public safety, emergency management, and non-governmental volunteer organizations around the world.  The DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance is a 501(c)3 non-profit operating program of AIRT, Inc. 

For more information on DRONERESPONDERS, please click here.