Sep. 23—Rogers County Sheriff's Office received $25,000 from the Safe Oklahoma Grant to purchase drones.
"If I can facilitate it, I would love to have a drone on each shift," Undersheriff Jon Sappington said.
Whether there is a Silver alert, juvenile that's run away or a felon on the loose, the drones would help in a variety of situations, Sappington said.
"Being able to have that technology, in that perspective, at the time of crisis is greatly beneficial, especially nowadays," he said.
Sappington said they are hoping to have four drones.
"We've got a few pilots on staff, but trying to get one on every shift is kind of the goal," he said.
Sappington said they are looking at 90 days to receive the grant, purchase the drones, and begin training.
"In order for those guys to fly them, they've got to have a license, that's very much similar to what a pilot has," he said. "It's not an easy certification."
RCSO Lieutenant and IT Administrator Bronson Smith said they will be training to get the FAA Part 107 Drone Pilot license.
"Just like you would go up and get a small aircraft like pilot's license or commercial license, you have to get a pilot's license to be able to fly a drone," Smith said. "If you're using it for a business, or to make money — anything other than a recreational purpose."
Smith said they will be training with the Rogers State University's drone program.
Smith said they have narrowed their search down to two drones: DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise or DJI The Matrice 300 RTK.
Smith said the Mavic drone is smaller and has a flight time of 25-30 minutes. This one ranges from $6,000-$8,000.
"We actually have one currently right now that we use for search and rescue and things like that," he said.
The Matrice is on a bigger scale and has a flight time of 45-50 minutes, he said. This one ranges from $10,000-$11,000.
"[This one] can actually carry small payloads," he said. "When I say payloads, that can be anything from small bag of medical supplies, food and water. ... You can switch that for cameras, spotlights, speaker system, etc."
Smith said it can carry up to 15 pounds.