GREENVILLE, Mich. — From search efforts to emergency response, drones are already a regular part of Greenville Public Safety's toolkit. And now, with new funding for additional equipment, those operations are getting a boost.
Greenville city leaders approved funding for additional batteries and a second drone controller, giving operators more flexibility during calls.
"This has been a game changer for both our department and then just the community as a whole," said Ryan Klackle, Greenville public safety drone team commander.
Brian Blomstrom, Greenville Director of Public Safety, explained the advantage of having two controllers.
"Now we can separate where one person can fly and one person can view the video, and that allows the ability to simultaneously fly it effectively, but also be able to use the cameras in a more effective manner," Blomstrom said.
The drone team commander says extra batteries means more time in the air without interruptions.
"Just being able to have backup batteries that we can start rotating through as we find that the old batteries don't hold the charge will just keep us up in the air longer," Klackle said.
Blomstrom says these upgrades will help the department keep up with a growing community.
"As town rapidly expands, as we're seeing quite an increase in population, we're hoping that the citizens realize that we're trying to be technologically advanced in the services that we provide," Blomstrom said.
With the new gear now in place, Greenville Public Safety plans to train and certify more personnel to use it.
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