By Paige Nash

According to Brian Williams, Director of Webster Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (OHSEP), his office will possibly be receiving a brand-new drone soon.  

A demonstration was held last Friday at the Fire District 7 location with 25 to 30 in attendance from multiple agencies including Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office, Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office, DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office, Monroe Police Department, Webster Parish Police Jury, Webster Fire District 7 and Louisiana Tech Aviation representatives. 

Williams said it would take about 3 months for the drone to come in and be available for use. “It will be for my office to use for disaster management stuff, and we will still share it with other law enforcement agencies and fire departments.”  

The drone is a Skydio product.   

“It is built NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) compliant, so it is not transmitting to China,” said Williams. “It meets a lot of military specs as far as cyber security. There are some features that we can download as far as data into a system and maintain the encryption on it.”  

According to the Skydio website, their products are “secure by design, safeguarding each layer of the UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) stack against external threats.”  

Their hardware security is designed, assembled and supported within the United States.   

According to Williams the company recently sold 5 drones to the City of New Orleans.   

“This is bigger than the one I have been flying for District 7 that they own,” said Williams. “It is a step up from that. It has cool features that law enforcement can utilize and neat things that we can do to recreate if we have a major incident, whether it is law enforcement or disaster related. We can create 3-D images of it and have it available for the state if needed.”

The drone can also be used for roads by measuring earthwork and soil, surveying, tracking progress and ensuring efficient material staging and oilfield industry purposes. Drone usage is also being used more in the oilfield industry by monitoring unstable terrains and assessing potential gas leaks or toxic emissions.   

“This will be another tool in our toolbox for the parish to assist any agency in their time of need,” said Williams.