It had been almost two months since the department. Port St. Lucie police had to stop using their Chinese-made drones, but they’re back in the air with American-made equipment.

The dept. The Port St. Lucie Police Department has had its drone unit operational since 2020, but a new state law that took effect on January 1 of this year required them to replace all of their equipment with government-approved equipment. . This is for national security reasons.

Drone pilot Matt Reynolds, Port St. Lucie Police Sergeant, says, “Our previous fleet was made in China and the one we have now is made here in the United States.

And it is that the use of these drones, which have better video quality, day and night, has become essential and effective when it is necessary to find a person and time is of the essence.

“Reviewing the efficiency of our unit last year, we found that if we can respond within the first 30 minutes, we can find the person who ran away or went missing 69% of the time”

This unit has 6 pilots trained and authorized and licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“Every officer has a drone on their patrol, it’s with them all the time and it can be deployed within two minutes of arriving on scene and that’s a huge plus for us.”

To give you an idea, the approximate cost of each drone is 10 thousand dollars, that is, the department. The Port St. Lucie Police Department invested $60,000 for its 6 drones.

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