Los Angeles Police Department officials on Tuesday approved a $9.8 million federal grant to protect the city from potentialdrone attacks.
The city’s so-called Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems grant will fund a slew of efforts to combatillegal dronesthat “pose a threat to the safety and security of the American people,” according topolice documents.
The five-member LAPD Police Commission on Tuesday gave LAPD ChiefJim McDonnell‘s anti-drone plan a green light.
McDonnell’s plan for the money now goes to City Hall for review byMayor Karen Bassand the City Council.
The city’s civilian Police Commission last week approved a$2.1 million expansionof the LAPD’s fleet of aerial drones.
McDonnell on Tuesday sang the praises of drone technology, relating the story of a 911 call on Friday for a man with a shotgun, where one of the LAPD’s firsts-responder drones arrived before officers.
The drone’s “real time aerial observations confirmed the suspect’s location … which helped to reduce the risk to responding personnel and the community,” said McDonnell.
The suspect was arrested without incident thanks in part to the drone assist, McDonnell said.
The $9.8 million reimbursement-only grant for McDonnell’s new anti-drone plan comes from the federal Department of Homeland Security, as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The Act provides $500 million in funding nationwide to enhance “state and local capabilities to detect identify track or monitor unmanned aircraft,” according to LAPD documents.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
