The Loveland Police Departmentap drone program has grown over the last few years, but not in the way Lovelanders think.
The department shot down speculations of drones being used to surveil Fourth of July backyard fireworks through a social media post.
“That claim is false,” LPD wrote in the post. “While itap true a drone was deployed that evening, it was bei used to assist in locating individuals who had unlawfully fled the scene of a serious traffic crash.”
Since 2018 the LPD has not only added more drones, amassing to the 17 mission-ready drones the department has today, but also trained operators and increased capabilities, said LPD Public Information Officer Chris Padgett in an emailed statement.
“The program launched in 2018 with limited resources and only a few completed flights. In the early days, we shared a drone with the Loveland Fire Rescue Authority,” Padgett wrote. “By 2025, the drone program carries an approximate budget of $89,000, with a significant portion allocated to software licensing.”
Fire Chief Tim Sendelbach said LFRA now has three drones that are mainly used for sizing up wildfires, searching for stranded or disoriented hikers, and doing reconnaissance for structural firefighting.
Drone technology allows the police department to provide better, quicker and safer services to victims and the Loveland community, Padgett wrote. He added that recently officers were able to use a drone to track an armed-suspect accused of robbing a local business.
“With drone assistance the suspect was observed in the area and tracked until officers were able to apprehend him with the help of a canine,” Padgett wrote.
Drones are also commonly used to search for missing persons, document crime scenes, manage large-scale events, support SWAT operations and reconstruct accidents, as well as for interagency support and to help apprehend fugitives, Padgett added.
LPD’s drone program is operated by team leader Jeff Olson, who also teaches the departmentap drone-specific training to newly certified operators. LPD drone pilots are initially certified under Federal Aviation Agency regulations required for commercial drone use, which is typically done through self-paced courses, like the one Colorado State University offers, Padgett wrote.
CSU’s FAA certification course covers “airspace, aviation weather, rules and regulations, aeronautical decision making, physiology and human performance, sectional charts, airport operations, physics of flight and more,” according to their website.
With drones and other artificial intelligence-powered technologies becoming more prevalent in the workforce, more than half of US workers are worried about its future in the workplace, according to the Pew Research Center.
However, LPD says that although drones can make a job easier or safer, they still require just as many officers to be present to operate each drone.
“Drones are certainly a great tool which can truly make a safer environment for all involved, but they are still a tool needing to be operated,” Padgett wrote. “They do provide for technological resources, which in return make officer safety better, but officers are still essential as they have been.”
