Sandy Police Department defends drone use amid community privacy concerns
Sandy Police Department defends drone use amid community privacy concerns
Publish Date: 2026-05-14 23:28:00
Source Domain: kutv.com
SANDY, Utah (KUTV) — Members of the Sandy community have started raising privacy concerns over the Sandy Police Department’s use of drones.
The police department says the drones help them do their jobs more safely.
“We are pretty heavily invested in technology,” said Sgt. Michael Olsen, a public information officer with the police department.
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The police department has a fleet of roughly a dozen drones that it uses several times a week as part of its Real Time Crime Center.
“Most of what we use drones for is to make sure that we are getting into the correct positions when we are either assisting our fire department, or we’re doing search and rescue, or we’re trying to locate a fleeing suspect who is hiding in backyards,” Olsen said.
It also uses the drones to help with search and arrest warrants.
“What we could do is use a mix of drones to help us either call people out or put a drone inside of a house to make sure that there’s nobody else inside the house before we go in and clear it,” Olsen said. “What we are trying to prioritize is our safety and the safety of anybody else that would be inside.”
“We have seen not just us but throughout the nation that sometimes haste in search warrants can have unintended consequences, and the utilization of drones is able to help us slow things down and make sure that we are being as safe for us and the public as possible,” he added
2News asked Olsen if privacy is a concern when it comes to the drones.
“Absolutely. I would have a concern if somebody were to come and try and use it over my house or in my house,” Olsen said. “The main thing we’re trying to do is keep the trust with the public.”
Olsen said that the police department has “very strict case law” on what they can and cannot use the drones for.
“The last thing we would want is for us to be using these in an incorrect or wrong manner, just as if they were to be used against us,” Olsen said.
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