Inside Greendale Police Department's new drone program

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(GREENDALE, Ind.) – The Greendale Police Department has launched a Drone Program. 

It was made possible through grants and funding from the Laughery Valley Fraternal Order of Police, Dearborn Community Foundation and the City of Greendale.

The drones will be operated by Greendale officers Austin Boggs and Austin Donwerth who both graduated from a rigorous FAA course. 

Here are ways that the department will use the drone:

• Search and Rescue

  
  

  • Example: The drones have thermal imaging and can quickly search areas that humans can’t. 

    
    

• Crime and accident scene reconstruction 

  
  

  • 3D models created by drones can help preserve evidence and provide a more realistic image of the scene. Greendale Police will now be able to conduct fatal car crash investigations in-house because of the drones. 

    
    

• De-escalation during standoffs 

  
  

  • A drone will allow for additional eyes on the scene that can feed information to the officers on the ground. The drones are equipped with speakers which will allow an officer and suspect to communicate from a safe distance. 

• Tactical operations support

  
  

  • Drones provide critical situational awareness using visual optics, zoom and thermal imaging. The technology can help identify human heat signatures, possibly identity weapons and give other information. 

• Emergencies and natural disaster response

  
  

  • Greendale Police are often the first on the scene during fires and other emergencies. The drones can help quickly gather an aerial assessment to improve response time for the appropriate agencies. 

• Community events 

  
  

  • The City of Greendale hosts multiple large event annually.  Drone will increase the safety of the public while giving officers a better understanding of what they’re responding to if an incident occurs. 

Officers are providing some real-life examples of how a drone can drastically help their efforts. 

In 2024, they responded to a wooded area near Walker’s Tower after a person said they were going to harm themselves. Police were able to ping the person’s phone once but was unsuccessful afterwards. 

“This was a time-sensitive matter, where the subject needs to be located quickly. We see the potential of a drone’s deployment being able to reduce the time of the search and being able to observe any threats,” Boggs said. 

Greendale Police added that the drone program will never be used to invade someone’s privacy or violate the Fourth Amendment.